Introduction

Eye drops are commonly used for delivering ophthalmic drugs despite many deficiencies including low bioavailability and poor compliance. Contact lenses can deliver drugs with high bioavailability but commercial contacts release drug rapidly, limiting benefits and necessitating modifications to improve the drug release characteristics.

Areas covered

This review covers the common approaches to prolong the release rates of drugs from contact lenses including molecular imprinting, incorporation of nano/microparticles, vitamin-E barriers, and layered/implant contact lenses. It also evaluates their suitability for commercialization and discusses challenges that need to be addressed before commercialization is possible.

Expert opinion

In spite of many benefits of contact lenses compared to eye drops, a drug-eluting contact lens has not emerged in the market due to many reasons including potential safety risks, patient and practitioner acceptance, and production and storage factors. Importantly, changes in the critical lens properties must also be considered such as ion and oxygen permeability, loss in modulus, optical and swelling properties, and protein adherence upon drug loading. Many technologies have addressed scientific and commercialization challenges and are currently being tested both in animal and clinical studies. It is likely that a drug-eluting contact lens will be commercialized in the future.

中文翻译：

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药物洗脱隐形眼镜的商业化挑战。

介绍

尽管存在许多不足，包括生物利用度低和依从性差，但滴眼剂通常用于输送眼科药物。隐形眼镜可以递送具有高生物利用度的药物，但是商业接触会迅速释放药物，从而限制了益处并需要进行修饰以改善药物释放特性。

覆盖区域

这篇综述涵盖了延长药物从隐形眼镜中释放速率的常用方法，包括分子印迹，掺入纳米/微粒，维生素E屏障和分层/植入式隐形眼镜。它还评估了它们的商业化适用性，并讨论了在商业化成为可能之前需要解决的挑战。

专家意见

尽管与眼药水相比，隐形眼镜有许多好处，但由于许多原因，包括潜在的安全风险，患者和从业人员的接受程度以及生产​​和存储因素，药物洗脱隐形眼镜尚未在市场上出现。重要的是，还必须考虑关键镜片特性的变化，例如离子和氧气的渗透性，模量损失，光学和溶胀特性以及药物加载后的蛋白质粘附。许多技术已经解决了科学和商业化的挑战，目前正在动物和临床研究中进行测试。洗脱药物的隐形眼镜可能会在将来商业化。