17 May New Technology May Allow Topical Delivery of Anti-VEGF Drugs For Macular Degeneration
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Felicity de Cogan
Dr Felicity de Cogan PhD
Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
University of Birmingham
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The University of Birmingham has a unique approach to developing technologies. By locating chemists, engineers, biologists and clinicians in the same department it revolutionised the way research problems are solved.
Initially, Felicity de Cogan was researching cell penetrating peptides (CPP) and their uses in microbiology. However, after joining forces with Neuroscientists, Dr Lisa Hill and Professor Ann Logan at the National Institute for Health Research Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (NIHR SRMRC) together with the clinicians and Vision Scientists, Dr Mei Chen and Professor Heping Xu at the Queen’s University Belfast it became evident that there was huge potential to deliver drugs in the eye. This was the start of the project and it developed rapidly from there.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: The key findings in this paper were;
1) That CPP could reach the back of the eye after topical application as an eye drop to the cornea at the front of the eye.
2) The CPP could be used to carry a large therapeutic protein (anti-VEGF therapeutic) through to the back of the eye.
3) Once delivered the anti-VEGF therapeutic had the same outcome on disease progression when it was delivered topically by the CPP or injected into the eye.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: This research has large implications for patients undergoing injection therapies. The most common side effect patients report is discomfort during and after the injections and bleeding inside the eye. This would be removed by the use of eye drops. It would also reduce the more serious complications of the injected therapy – retinal detachment and ocular infections, both of which can lead to blindness.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Response: The researchers at University of Birmingham and Queens University Belfast are applying for further funding to move this research into clinical trial. We hope this will allow the technology to move rapidly into the clinic and stop the need for repeated injections into the eye.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: This work was carried out at and patented by the University of Birmingham with further studies carried out at Queen’s University Belfast. The research was funded by an ARVO Fellowship and a Wellcome Trust Pathfinder grant. Initial studies in vitro were funded by the NIHR SRMRC, Birmingham.
MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.
Citation:
Nantotechnology and Regenerative Medicine | May 2017
Topical Delivery of Anti-VEGF Drugs to the Ocular Posterior Segment Using Cell-Penetrating Peptides
Felicity de Cogan; Lisa J. Hill; Aisling Lynch; Peter J. Morgan-Warren; Judith Lechner; Matthew R. Berwick; Anna F. A. Peacock; Mei Chen; Robert A. H. Scott; Heping Xu; Ann Logan
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science May 2017, Vol.58, 2578-2590. doi:10.1167/iovs.16-20072
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Last Updated on May 17, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD