This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
NEI grant supports novel transscleral drug delivery research
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
NEW YORK — The National Eye Institute has awarded a $7 million grant to foster research into development of novel posterior segment drug delivery devices or techniques.
The grant will support 5 years of research reaching across various disciplines at Emory University, University of Nebraska, University of Pennsylvania and Georgia Institute of Technology, according to Henry F. Edelhauser, PhD. He outlined the various sustained drug delivery devices and techniques currently being investigated with support from the grant at the OSN New York Symposium here. This is only the third grant of its kind to be awarded, he said.
"They all have a separate expertise. We are pulling together a number of different devices, and we also need a good tissue analysis too," Dr. Edelhauser told Ocular Surgery News. "This is something we could not do alone at Emory, so that is why we have all of these groups."
The research will focus on investigating novel devices that can provide sustained delivery of drugs currently available to treat posterior segment diseases. Some ideas include the use of nanoparticles, microneedles, collagen gels or iontophoresis, Dr. Edelhauser said.
"These are just some of the new things that are coming along to see if we can get away from sticking needles into the eye once a month," he said.
"Up until now, it has not been of great interest, but now that we have these therapeutic agents, the drug delivery modality becomes an important avenue for getting the drugs there," Dr. Edelhauser said. "Obviously, there has to be a better way to deliver these therapeutic agents."
Research funded by the grant began on August 1 of this year, and surgeons might see new drug delivery systems in the market within 5 years, he said.
"Many pharmaceutical companies are developing various drug delivery techniques too, but this money is funded by the NEI, so the information we gather will be shared to get it out into the public domain," Dr. Edelhauser told OSN. "That is the advantage of this type of grant, because the techniques we develop will be able to be used by a lot of people."