Evaluation Based on Pharmaceutical Characteristics and Design of Novel Nanomedicine in the Ophthalmic Field

Abstract

Eye drops are the primary route of administration for therapy in the ophthalmic field; however, the continuous application of eye drops causes corneal damage. Moreover, in traditional formulations, only small amounts of the administered drug penetrate the cornea to reach the desired intraocular tissue due to corneal barriers, and thus eye drops are not a suitable therapy for cataracts. To resolve these problems, we evaluated the corneal toxicity caused by commercially available anti-glaucoma eye drops (1), and investigated the development of a preservative system comprising benzalkonium chloride and sericin (2). In addition, we demonstrated the optimal drug particle size in the ophthalmic suspension (rebamipide) to promote corneal wound healing (3), and researched the novel factor of cataract development (Aβ accumulation) in the lens epithelium of Japanese patients with cortical opacification (4). Furthermore, we designed a novel ocular drug delivery system using drug nanoparticles (5). This review summarizes our research described above (1-5), and these findings expand their usage for therapy in the ophthalmologic field.