Après les collyres, pommades, injections péri-oculaires (sous-conjonctivale, sous-ténonienne, péri-bulbaire etc) et intravitréennes, voire iontophorèse, un nouveau mode d’administration de médicaments ophtalmologiques pourrait voir le jour : le « dépot sous-palpébral », si l’on en croit Médical News Today rapportant une communication de Y. Chen :
[…] a new gel for under the eyelid could provide an innovative way of delivering drugs to treat age-related retinal diseases such as wet macular degeneration – potentially making some invasive eye injections a thing of the past. […]
Yvonne Chen set out to develop an alternative way of delivering drugs to the retina based on « smart » polymers that behave as liquids at room temperature, but rapidly transform (in less than a minute) to a gel at body temperature. This unique feature offers the advantages of easily adding a drug to a formulation (especially for heat-sensitive biologically-active drugs) and delivering drugs locally.
The liquid is injected under the eyelid and deposits on the white of the eye. Once in contact with the increased temperature of the body, the liquid converts to a gel and provides a depot (or reservoir) for the drug, allowing it to slowly move towards the retina over several hours. This gel system also prolongs the drug release duration so that controlled drug release can be achieved. It is hoped the less invasive gel will lead to better compliance.
Yvonne said: « Experiments have shown that this new gel may well prove to be a breakthrough in treating retinal diseases, with major benefits to patient comfort and healthcare outcomes.
