Injectable drug depot engineered to release multiple ophthalmic therapeutic agents with precise time profiles for postoperative treatment following ocular surgery

Abstract

After ocular surgery, patients routinely receive multiple medications including antibiotics, steroids and ocular hypotensives to ensure optimal surgical outcomes. The current standard of care for postoperative treatment after ocular surgery involves using eye drops daily, which has limited effectiveness mainly due to poor patient adherence. To improve patient experience and outcomes, this article presents the first thermoresponsive hydrogel able to release multiple drug molecules for the application of post-operative treatment following ocular surgery. By varying the parameters such as hydrogel type and polymer hydrophobicity, the drug release profile, duration and dosage can finely be tuned. The approach presented in this article can readily be applied to other applications by simply changing the drug loaded in the drug delivery system.

Thermoresponsive GenisteinNLC-dexamethasone-moxifloxacin multi drug delivery system in lens capsule bag to prevent complications after cataract surgery

“…Very few studies explored triplet drugs delivery, especially for intracameral injection. Dr. Mohammadi and his colleagues built a thermoresponsive hydrogel that contained levobunolol, dexamethasone and moxifloxacin as an alternative of eyedrops for postoperative treatment in ophthalmic field, which is the only paper we found after doing a thorough review of papers 17 . The depot was an intravitreal design, which is different from our study.…”

“…Next, 1.2 mL PBS was poured into the tube as the release medium then put the tubes back into the air shake bath for an incubation temperature of 37 °C. At each time point, 1 mL of media was replaced by fresh PBS for further drug release 17 . The collected medium containing the released drugs was determined by the HPLC method separately.…”

“…In recent years, more attempts have been made towards designing multi-drug delivery systems. A thermoresponsive injectable drug depot that released levobunolol, dexamethasone and moxifloxacin was designed for postoperative treatment following cataract surgery 17 . However, applying anti-glaucoma agents is not recommended for routine use after cataract surgeries.…”

Narrow molecular weight margins for the thermogelling property of polyester–polyether block copolymers in aqueous solutions

“…Due to the relatively slower degradation of the PLCL chain as compared to the PLGA chain, these polymers exhibit generally slower degradation . Thus, thermogels made of PLCL can release a drug for longer periods of time than those made of PLGA …”

Structures and Applications of Thermoresponsive Hydrogels and Nanocomposite-Hydrogels Based on Copolymers with Poly (Ethylene Glycol) and Poly (Lactide-Co-Glycolide) Blocks

“…They first prepared Bri-LDH nanoparticles using a modified hydrothermal process, then dispersed the nanoparticles into PLGA-PEG-PLGA hydrogel. As for multiple drugs, multi-delivery of ophthalmic aquatic agents at programmed rates and times was achieved by incorporating the drugs into microparticles and thermoresponsive hydrogels separately [43]. In the study, two drugs were loaded into microparticles, and the drug-loaded microparticles were encapsulated into thermoresponsive hydrogels containing another drug.…”