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Integral BioSystems
Ophthalmic Drug Delivery


Picture courtesy: National Eye Institute, NIH

Ophthalmic Drug Delivery is the one of the most interesting and challenging endeavors facing the pharmaceutical scientist. A significant challenge to the formulator is to circumvent the protective barriers of the eye without tissue damage. The goal of ophthalmic drug delivery is the design of therapeutic systems that will achieve optimal concentrations of the selected drug at the target tissue, for an appropriate duration. Ocular disposition and elimination of a therapeutic agent is dependent upon its physico-chemical properties as well as the relevant ocular anatomy and physiology. As much as 95% of the total volume of the ophthalmic solution is lost by drainage into the lacrimal duct, tear turnover and conjunctival absorption. Thus, for acceptable bioavalability, a proper duration of contact with the cornea must be maintained. Factors that are important in the design of ophthalmic delivery systems are intrinsic permeability of the drug through the various ocular tissues such as cornea, sclera, etc., biocompatibility of the delivery system with ocular tissues and the ability of the delivery system to "deliver" a predictable concentration of drug over the desired time duration.

Integral BioSystems has a specific expertise niche in the design of drug delivery systems, with a specific focus on the delivery of ophthalmics. We aim to design ophthalmic formulations that are chemically stable and are designed to have minimum systemic exposure and high local concentrations at the site. Furthermore, we design our research formulations to be scaleable and transferable into clinical dosage form development.

Our drug delivery research capabilities:

  1. Permeability Studies of drug through Corneal and Scleral Tissues
  2. In-Vitro Compatibility Studies of the drug with ocular tissues
  3. In-Vitro release experiments
  4. Stability studies of the ocular formulation
  5. Eye-drop characterization
  6. Design capabilities of hydrogels, eye-drops, solutions and suspensions
 
 
 
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