A U.S. patent has been awarded to the Atlanta based Emory Eye Centre for microneedle technology designed to deliver medication to the back of the eye in a selective and minimally invasive way.
“The beauty of this hollow-tubed microneedle is that it can serve as a route for targeted drug delivery for retinal disease using an array of delivery suspensions such as microbeads and microbubbles,” said
Henry Edelhauser.
Mr. Edelhauser is one of three researchers who developed the technology and the former director of research at the Emory Eye Center.
“Moreover, a sustained delivery can be achieved with proper formulation design. In the future, this
new process should be helpful in the treatment of several ocular diseases,” he added. Speaking of the technology, Timothy Olsen, Managing Director of the Emory Eye Center said: “In the 1990s Dr. Edelhauser and I initially conceived of getting drugs from the outside of the eye, the sclera, to the back of the eye, the retinal space.
What we have now found is that the suprachoroidal space, an area located between the sclera and the retina, offers opportunity to deliver medications very effectively to the retinal region
“What we have now found is that the suprachoroidal space, an area located between the sclera and the retina, offers opportunity to deliver medications very effectively to the retinal region.
“The microneedle technology… may prove to be the safest and most effective path to this important area of the eye.”
