Sustained-release drug delivery products edge closer to fruition

Eye drops and injections, when needed day after day or month after month, can take a toll. Patient compliance with therapy becomes a problem. Treatment becomes expensive. Receiving repeated injections in the eye is not high on the patient’s list of things to look forward to. For those patients who need long-term therapy to control their IOP, heal a persistent wound or restrict neovascular vessels, for example, sustained-release medicines and methods of delivery are being developed to ease this burden.A handful of sustained-release drug delivery implants are already on the market. Retisert (fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant 0.59 mg, Bausch + Lomb), Ozurdex (dexamethasone intravitreal implant 0.7 mg, Allergan) and Iluvien (fluocinolone acetonide implant 0.19 mg, Alimera Sciences) are FDA approved for retinal/vitreous disorders.