Improving ophthalmic drug delivery by novel formulations: peptidic hydrogels and nanoparticles

NanOptima的使命是通过改善原料药的输送来提高眼科药物的有效性和安全性。随着人口的老龄化，越来越多的人需要治疗威胁视力的眼睛疾病。据估计，失明或失明需要干预或治疗的终生风险是：近五分之一的人患有永久性失明或失明；超过三分之一的人患有失明或失明。英国有200多万人患有严重的失明，这对他们的日常生活产生了重大影响。英国2013年成年人口因失明而蒙受的损失为281亿GB。这包括每年估计为30亿GB的直接医疗费用“(RNIB，2017)。目前的治疗方法要么具有重大风险，要么效果不佳。眼药水是治疗青光眼和炎症的最常见的药物，但会失去效果，因为90%的眼药水在眨眼后就会被冲走，而且有30%的不依从性，这可能导致失明。NanOptima正在开发先进的柔软、透明的凝胶来延长药物在眼表上的保留时间，并开发纳米颗粒来增加药物在眼睛中的渗透率。眼后部的疾病，特别是黄斑变性和糖尿病并发症(两种主要的失明原因，在英国影响57万人)必须通过注射治疗，这是昂贵的、有风险的，而且对患者来说非常不舒服。NanOptima将使用我们的新型凝胶技术来创建可以通过非常细的针头注射的仓库，并一次提供数月的治疗，以便减少目前的注射制度的频率和侵入性。我们还将探索纳米技术滴眼液是否可以延长注射之间的间隔。NanOptima、PeptiglDesign Technologies和Tecrea是三家英国小型研究公司，它们联合起来，共同改善眼睛问题患者的体验，并建立英国治疗眼病的药物科学基地。我们的工作将与阿尔斯特大学领先的学术和临床眼科专家以及高级行业顾问密切合作。“

"NanOptima has a mission to improve efficacy and safety of ophthalmic medications by improving delivery of APIs.As populations grow older, more and more people need treatment for sight-threatening eye conditions. ""The lifetime risk, of sight loss or blindness requiring intervention or treatment, is estimated to be: nearly **1 in 5 people for permanent sight loss or blindness**; and over 1 in 3 people for any sight loss or blindness. More than two million people in the UK live with sight loss that is severe enough to have a significant impact on their daily lives. £28.1 billion was the cost to the UK of sight loss in the adult population in 2013\. This includes a direct healthcare cost estimated to be £3 billion each year"" (RNIB, 2017).Current treatment methods either carry significant risk, or do not work effectively. Eye drops are the most common way of delivering medications for glaucoma and inflammation, but lose effectiveness because \>90% of the drops are washed away upon blinking, and there is a 30% non-compliance rate, which can lead to blindness. NanOptima is developing advanced soft, transparent gels to retain medicines on the eye surface for longer, and nanoparticles to increase penetration of medications into the eye.Conditions near the back of the eye, especially macular degeneration and the complications of diabetes (two of the leading causes of blindness, impacting 570,000 people in the UK), must be treated with injections, which are expensive, risky, and very unpleasant for patients. NanOptima will use our novel gel technology to create depots that can be injected via a very fine needle, and deliver treatments for months at a time, so that current injection regimes can be made less frequent and invasive. We will also explore whether nanotechnology eye drops can extend the intervals between injections. NanOptima, PeptigelDesign Technologies, and Tecrea, are three small UK research companies joining their complementary forces to improve the experiences of patients with eye problems, and to build the UK science base in pharmaceuticals for treating eye diseases. Our work will be in close collaboration with leading academic and clinical ophthalmic experts at Ulster University, with senior industry advisors."