Grant: Project Grant

While eye drops are a cornerstone of eye care, they suffer from serious limitations. In current formulations, the tears quickly flush the drugs from the surface of the eye, thus requiring frequent, sometimes painful, administration of drops that can cause secondary ocular conditions in patients with chronic conditions. Furthermore, some novel therapeutics which could be used to treat ocular conditions cannot be used, as their properties currently prevent formulation as an eye drop. It has been shown that a new micelle-based formulation can overcome many of these limitations associated with eye drops due to the mucoadhesive nature of the system which allows the drug to be retained on the eye significantly longer. Preliminary data has shown a 6 fold reduction in dosing is possible while maintaining equivalent drug levels to conventional dosing. Also, due to the aqueous nature of the drop, it has improved tolerability profiles for existing drugs and novel compounds in development. The ability to improve solubilty has allowed proprietary drugs to be formulated as an eye drop. While the micelle formulation has potential for commercialization and has a clear place in the market and many potential partners, additional studies are necessary for the preparation of a regulatory package and additional investment. The work proposed will provide the additional validation required for commercialization of this formulation.