Eye Diseases

About

Background: A contact lens loaded in a unique manner with a therapeutic drug. This method is useful for loading a hydrophobic hydrogel contact lens, such as a "silicone hydrogel" contact lens, with a hydrophobic drug. Current methods are non-existent or very laborious and time consuming to load hydrophobic drugs into a hydrophobic lens. This method loads the hydrophobic drug in minutes instead of hours or days. While the loading method is not novel (BYU published it several years ago), its use to load a hydrophobic drug into a silicone hydrogel contact lens produces a novel device that is useful for sustained drug delivery. This technology could be applied to load drugs into contact lenses during or after manufacturing. It could be used to load hydrophobic drugs into other hydrophobic hydrogel materials for other applications of drug delivery. The purpose of the invention is to provide a constant release of drug to the eye. Current methods of applying drug to the eye include eye drops and eye ointments. In both of these methods a large amount of drug is applied to the eye at initial application, and then the excess drug is washed away in the tears as the eye drops are flushed from the eye by normal tear flow. Applying an ointment prolongs the delivery, but the gel is often difficult to self-apply by older people and is eventually washed from the eye also. An ocular insert provides a reservoir from which sustained delivery can occur, but the insert is irritating to the eye, and difficult to self-insert by older people. The most important advantage is that the drug elutes slowly and constantly over many days from a contact lens, so that the eye is continually bathed in a low and therapeutically correct concentration of the needed drug. Some silicone hydrogel contact lenses can be worn during sleep, so drug delivery occurs continually, even during sleep. The lens can be replaced on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule.   About the Market: Many people wear contact lenses, or have worn them. These people may be more comfortable using a sustained release device that is a comfortable contact lens, rather than inserting a solid drug depot, or inserting a gel. Furthermore the contact lens can provide refractive correction if needed. The invention is to be used by people with eye diseases that can be treated by hydrophobic or amphipathic drugs.