Contact lenses with dual drug delivery for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis

Publication date: 5 September 2018 Source:International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Volume 548, Issue 1 Author(s): Furqan A. Maulvi, Sulabh S. Singhania, Ankita R. Desai, Manish R. Shukla, Aniruddha S. Tannk, Ketan M. Ranch, Bhavin A. Vyas, Dinesh O. Shah Currently, bacterial conjunctivitis is treated by frequent administration of antibiotic eye drop solutions, which is tedious and patient noncompliant. Contact lenses could be ideal medical devices to sustain the release of ophthalmic drugs, but the incorporation of the latter can alter the optical and physical properties of the lenses. In addition, many contact lens users have reported the pink eye syndrome, making them unsuitable as ocular medical devices. In the present study, we have designed a novel type of lenses containing semi-circular rings loaded with moxifloxacin HCl (a broad spectrum antibiotic) and hyaluronic acid (a comfort agent), respectively, in order to treat bacterial conjunctivitis without altering the critical lens properties. The drug loaded rings were implanted separately within the periphery of the contact lenses using the modified cast moulding technology. The atomic force microscopy report showed an average roughness of 22.27 nm for the implant lens, which was significantly lower in comparison to the marketed Freshlook® (116.27 nm) contact lens. The major amount of moxifloxacin HCl was leached (68.16–74.55%) during the monomer extraction and wet sterilization (autoclave) steps; hence t...
Source: International Journal of Pharmaceutics - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research