Recent Advances in New Copolymer Hydrogel‐Formed Contact Lenses for Ophthalmic Drug Delivery

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals delivery to the eye sites of interest via the means of contact lenses (CLs) has attracted significant research attention in recent years. Compared with the conventional formulation in eye treatment such as eye drops, CLs administration has shown remarkable advantages in overcoming the challenges involved in ocular drug delivery such as higher bioavailability, longer drug residence and better medication compliance. This review will first detail each of the material components which have been used in the context of CLs, including HEMA, MAA, DMA, NVP, EGDMA, TRIS and PDMS. The pros and cons of each material in tailoring drug release rates of different encapsulated payloads will be discussed, with special focus on their impact on the therapeutic efficiency. In addition, the advancement of recent emerging copolymer CLs hydrogels, originated from these sophisticated monomers with distinct functions, are further summarized into several synthetic strategies in the means of copolymer architecture design and function‐performance relationship in ophthalmic applications. Finally, the possible considerations for future design of multifunctional CLs hydrogels by combing material selection rationales with biological interface science are proposed.

Lab‐on‐a‐Contact Lens: Recent Advances and Future Opportunities in Diagnostics and Therapeutics

“…PHEMA is an optically transparent polymer material commonly used for soft CL fabrication, making up almost 22% of the CL market (Table 1). [33,53,54] Due to the high oxygen permeability and great hydrophilicity, the hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) monomer has frequently been copolymerized with other polymers to improve the wettability and structural stability after soaking-drying cycles within the polymer network. [34] For example, typical monomers such as methacrylic acid (MAA) and N-Vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) have been coupled with HEMA to generate PHEMA-MAA and PHEMA-NVP hydrogels, respectively.…”

“…For example, 3D printing can create embedded microchannels or microchambers into the contact lens. These inbuilt channels or chambers can be employed to load drugs/mRNA/stem cells for promising personalized therapeutic applications [29,54].…”

Flexible polymeric nanosized micelles for ophthalmic drug delivery: research progress in the last three years

“…3,11 In recent years, polymeric micelles, as carriers of indirect action, mostly exist in hydrogels or contact lenses. 39 They can combine the respective characteristics of micelles, hydrogels and contact lenses to improve the ability of drug delivery in the eye. Both of these can improve the retention of micelles in the eye, reducing the drug loss by tear washing effect.…”

“…Contact lenses (CLs) have been studied extensively as an ocular drug delivery device because of portability, high adhesion, and so on. 39 The introduction of polymer micelles can not only increase the drug loading, but also enhance the slow release properties of the drug.…”

Soft Contact Lenses as Drug Delivery Systems: A Review

“…The dynamic of this research is evidenced by the number of publications that appear in scientific journals. Table 1 summarises the review papers that have been published in recent years [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”