This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Novel glaucoma drug delivery system similar to 'insulin pump,' clinician says
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
SAN FRANCISCO — A novel drug delivery system could effectively release measured doses of a glaucoma drug into a patient's eye over time, allowing for refills of medication through a port, Mark S. Humayun, MD, PhD, said here.
"Think of it as a tiny little insulin pump," he said at Glaucoma Subspecialty Day before the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
He said the intraocular pump implant (Replenish), in benchtop and preclinical testing, holds drug molecule or biologic. Timing and quantity of drug dosing can be changed with the system's wireless programming, he said. The system's metered dose has an accuracy rate of ± 2%, he said.
"It stores drugs from 3 to 9 months," Dr. Humayun said. "So if you had a beta blocker or a prostaglandin, you would be able to put it in this pump, which goes in the same way ... as a glaucoma drainage device, except now, instead of draining fluid, it's actually pumping fluid into the eye."
The pump is implanted in a minimally invasive procedure using standard surgical techniques, he said.
Though not the first drug delivery system for use in glaucoma, this novel approach claims to have the ability to customize treatment to the level of IOP. Many questions arise about drug concentration, dosing, side effects, tolerance to the device and drug, etc., many of which will influence the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory approach. Among other advantages, the Humayun system should stimulate other companies to simplify drug delivery such that it is less dependent on patients to dose themselves.
– Richard A. Lewis, MD
OSN Glaucoma Board
Member