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Recent advances in drug delivery to the retina
Author(s) -
Davis B.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2015.0206
Subject(s) - medicine , bevacizumab , ranibizumab , posterior segment of eyeball , drug delivery , macular degeneration , diabetic retinopathy , drug , ophthalmology , intensive care medicine , diabetes mellitus , pharmacology , surgery , chemistry , organic chemistry , chemotherapy , endocrinology
Summary Drug delivery to the retina is presently one of the greatest challenges in ophthalmology due to the inherent limitations of ocular barriers. This therapeutic impediment affects many promising treatments including; anti‐ VEGF s, which have revolutionised the management of age‐related macular degeneration, and have increasing indications for use as sight‐saving therapies in diabetes and retinal vascular disease. However, large molecular weight anti‐ VEGF therapies such as ranibizumab and bevacizumab currently require invasive intravitreal ( IVT ) injections to bypass ocular barriers, and thus carry a risk of significant side effects. Despite this, the success of anti‐ VEGF therapies has led to a dramatic increase in the number of IVT procedures, placing a high burden on healthcare resources. For these reasons, the development of non‐invasive ocular drug delivery systems has received considerable interest in recent years. This talk outlines the current understanding of anatomical barriers to ocular drug delivery and recent developments in overcoming these barriers for delivery of large drug cargo to posterior ocular tissues. Particular focus will be paid to the role of nanotechnology and annexin A5, which we recently reported to enhance the delivery of topically applied bevacizumab to the rabbit retina.