Technology Opportunities

Need:

The introduction of various drugs to the cornea of the eye is a complicated procedure. The bioavailability of a drug when administered in eye drops is very low (less than 1% of the administered dose) due to continuous rinsing of the drug by the tears. An alternative method of administration of drugs is by subconjunctival injections into the eye. The injections require a physician, are very painful and may cause severe complications such as perforation of the globe and scarring of the conjunctiva bleeding etc. The major limitations of the iontophoresis system include the inability to control the delivery of the drugs in a solution form into the desired tissue, spill-off of the iontophoresis drug solution, and the intolerance of the patients to a current of more than 1 mAmp for more than 2 min (skin iontophoresis requires a current of >1 mAmp for 30 min). An efficacious and reproducible iontophoresis delivery system is of importance for treating and preventing ocular infections and other chronic and acute diseases of the eye.

Innovation:

The proposed product is a portable, easy to use, short duration iontophoretic device that ejects a high content of anionic or cationic molecules (i.e. a drug) from a soft gel upon application of a low current of <1mAmp for less than 120 seconds. The iontophoretic device is a portable device that can be operated by battery or connected to an electric source. The preferred device is a pen size, battery operated probe with a variable current (micro Amp) for pre-set periods less than 120 seconds. The edge of the device has a conical or cylindrical hole for the insertion of the drug-loaded hydro gel disc and the estimated size is 15x4 cm. The cylindrical site can be replaced by different size and shape discs for the different applications (to be supplied as a package of 10-20 disposable cylindrical disks).

Indications/Applications:

Microbial Keratitis, AMD - The device is intended to replace the use of postoperative traumatic injections of antibiotics and may replace the intolerable hourly applications of the antibiotics needed to achieve reasonable concentrations of the drugs in the corneal tissue in cases of microbial/fungal keratitis. It may also be important for intraocular delivery of high concentrations of other medications such as anti-inflammatory and antiglaucoma drugs when required.

Competitive Advantages:

Efficient and elegant delivery system

Delivers large amounts of the drug into the tissues

Short time to use (seconds)

Safe and easy to handle

Low production cost