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Microscopic needles show enormous potential

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University (GA, USA) have been investigating minimally invasive drug delivery to the eye using microneedles. The needles penetrate eye tissue less than traditional needles (only as deep as 0.5 mm), resulting in less damage to the eye than traditional techniques. Furthermore, patients need only be under local anesthetic to receive treatment with the microscopic needles. Drug delivery to the eyes is a complicated matter. Eye drops suffer from an inability to ensure that consistent, correct levels of drug reach the back of the eye, whereas traditional injections are invasive, penetrating across eye tissues. “Although the research is at an early stage it does show that it is possible to use microneedles to effectively deliver drugs to targeted sections of the eye, such as the anterior and posterior portions. No inflammatory response or other adverse effects were observed in our early tests. This is promising news for those who are suffering from vision-threatening diseases, such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy,” commented Samirkumar Patel, a member of the research team. While the preliminary results, which were presented at the Ophthalmic Drug Delivery Symposium (UK), are promising, further research is necessary to confirm the needles’ safety and to increase our understanding of the long-term effects of this method of drug delivery.