Solid implantable devices for sustained drug delivery.

Implantable drug delivery systems (IDDS) are an attractive alternative to conventional drug administration routes. Oral and injectable drug administration are the most common routes for drug delivery providing peaks of drug concentrations in blood after administration followed by concentration decay after a few hours. Therefore, constant drug administration is required to keep drug levels within the therapeutic window of the drug.

Fabrication and Characterisation of 3D-Printed Triamcinolone Acetonide-Loaded Polycaprolactone-Based Ocular Implants.

Triamcinolone acetonide (TA) is a corticosteroid that has been used to treat posterior segment eye diseases. TA is injected intravitreally in the management of neovascular disorders; however, frequent intravitreal injections result in many potential side effects and poor patient compliance. In this work, a 3D bioprinter was used to prepare polycaprolactone (PCL) implants loaded with TA.

Nanosuspension-loaded dissolving bilayer microneedles for hydrophobic drug delivery to the posterior segment of the eye.

Intravitreal injections (IVT) are regarded as the gold standard for effective delivery of hydrophobic drugs to the back of the eye. However, as a highly invasive procedure, the injection itself may lead to poor patient compliance and severe complications. In this research work, a hybrid system of nanosuspensions (NS) and dissolving microneedles (MNs) was developed as an alternative to conventional hypodermic needles used in IVT for minimally invasive transscleral delivery of hydrophobic drugs.

In vitro dissolution testing models of ocular implants for posterior segment drug delivery.

The delivery of drugs to the posterior segment of the eye remains a tremendously difficult task. Prolonged treatment in conventional intravitreal therapy requires injections that are administered frequently due to the rapid clearance of the drug molecules. As an alternative, intraocular implants can offer drug release for long-term therapy.

Long-acting nanoparticle-loaded bilayer microneedles for protein delivery to the posterior segment of the eye.

Treatment of neovascular ocular diseases involves intravitreal injections of therapeutic proteins using conventional hypodermic needles every 4-6 weeks. Due to the chronic nature of these diseases, these injections will be administrated to patients for the rest of their lives and their frequent nature can potentially pose a risk of sight-threatening complications and poor patient compliance. Therefore, we propose to develop nanoparticle (NP)-loaded bilayer dissolving microneedle (MN) arrays, to sustain delivery of protein drugs in a minimally invasive manner.

The effect of two different crosslinkers on characteristics of ciprofloxacin-loaded chitosan implants.

The objective of this study was to determine and evaluate a controlled release implant of ciprofloxacin using bovine hydroxyapatite (BHA)-chitosan composite and glutaraldehyde or genipin as crosslinking agents. Ciprofloxacin implants were prepared using BHA, chitosan, ciprofloxacin at 30:60:10 and using three different concentrations of glutaraldehyde or genipin (0.3, 0.