Michigan State University

The development of a drug delivery system for ocular therapies. Feedback from industry is needed.

The objective of this work is to provide an improved method for topical drug delivery to the eye. Eye drops are the most common and most patient friendly method of delivery of drugs to the eye but, on average, less than 5% of the drug ever reaches the anterior segment of the eye. This low bioavailability is due to the corneal epithelial membrane, tear dynamics, nasolacrimal drainage and the high efficiency of the blood-ocular barrier. It is believed that if the residence time and the biocompatibility of the drug are increased, the bioavailability of the drug will be increased. In this invention, we have designed and engineered carboxylated polysaccharide derivatives, specifically from cellulose and starch, as a drug delivery agent that will gel under controlled conditions. The rate of gelation, the gel strength and the release profile is controlled by percent carboxyl group engineered onto the polymer chain, its position on the polymer chain, and the molecular weight of the polymer chain