Ophthalmic drug delivery system
AssigneeUniversity of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsAnuj Chauhan, Derya Gulsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drug delivery system comprising a contact lens having dispersed therein as nanoparticles having a particle size less than about 200 nm, an ophthalmic drug nanoencapsulated in a material from which said ophthalmic drug is capable of diffusion into and migration through said contact lens and into the post-lens tear film when said contact lens is placed on the eye.
Claims21
A drug delivery system comprising a contact lens having dispersed throughout as nanoparticles an ophthalmic drug nanoencapsulated with an encapsulation material, wherein said encapsulation material is selected dependent upon ophthalmic drug characteristics wherein a hydrophobic encapsulation material is selected for a hydrophobic ophthalmic drug and a hydrophilic encapsulation material is selected for a hydrophilic ophthalmic drug;
- wherein said ophthalmic drug is capable of diffusion into and migration through said contact lens and into the post-lens tear film when said contact lens is placed on the eye;
- wherein said diffusion results in extended or time-release delivery of said ophthalmic drug;
- and wherein said nanoparticles are dispersed within said contact lens in an amount such that said contact lens remains optically transparent, wherein optically transparent is a degree of transparency equal to that of p-HEMA or other material employed as a contact lens.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.