I-Corps: Thermally-Responsive Hydrogels for Ocular Drug Delivery

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是确保青光眼患者遵守他们的处方治疗。对药物治疗方案的依从性被定义为患者按照卫生保健提供者的处方服用药物的程度。青光眼患者需要终身治疗，并严格承诺每天滴眼液，这对老年患者来说尤其具有挑战性。成功使用眼药水需要协调性、手部灵巧性、手眼协调性和良好的视力，这导致不到50%的患者按处方使用眼药水。眼科药物(眼药水)是青光眼最广泛使用的治疗方法，每年在美国有超过3000万张处方。这个项目有可能显著减少因青光眼而失明的患者数量，极大地改善患有青光眼的患者的预后。这个i-Corps项目基于一个药物输送平台的开发，以保证慢性病患者是并继续抱怨。慢性病对依从性问题特别敏感，因为患者必须承诺终生治疗。这将通过使用一种专利药物洗脱、热响应性聚合物来实现，这种聚合物在室温下是液体，当加热到体温时会凝固。一种装有治疗剂的聚合物溶液将被插入泪道，在那里它将固化，形成固体的、可液体渗透的塞子。该插头完美地符合患者的形状？S独特的解剖结构，因为插入后发生了液体到固体的相变。一旦插入，治疗剂就会不断地从塞子上释放出来，在更长的时间内保持药物疗效，不再需要每天滴眼液，并确保患者的依从性。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to ensure patients with glaucoma are compliant with their prescribed treatment. Compliance with a medication regimen is defined as the extent to which patients take medications as prescribed by their health care providers. Glaucoma patients require lifelong treatment and a strict commitment to administer eye drops daily, which is especially challenging for elderly patients. The successful application of eye drops requires coordination, manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and good vision, which result in fewer than 50 % of patients administering their eye drops as prescribed. Ophthalmic pharmaceuticals (eye drops) represent the most widely used treatment for glaucoma with more than 30 million prescriptions filled in the United States each year. This project has the potential to significantly reduce the number of patients who lose their vision due to glaucoma, dramatically improving the prognosis of those who are afflicted with this disease.This I-Corps project is based upon the development of a drug delivery platform to guarantee patients with chronic diseases are and continue to be complaint. Chronic diseases are especially sensitive to compliance issues due to the necessity of the patient to commit to a lifetime of treatment. This will be accomplished through the use of a proprietary drug eluting, thermally-responsive polymer that is liquid at room temperature and solidifies when it heats to body temperature. A solution of the polymer loaded with a therapeutic agent will be inserted into the tear duct where it will solidify, forming a solid, liquid-permeable plug. The plug conforms perfectly to the shape of the patient?s unique anatomy due to the liquid-to-solid phase transition that occurs after insertion. Once inserted, the therapeutic agent is continuously released from the plug, maintaining drug efficacy over an extended period, eliminating the need for the application of daily eye drops and ensuring patient compliance.