Feasibility study of ocular implants for HCMV retinitis treatment

• Main Author: Huang, Xue Wei
• Other Authors: Terry W.J. Steele
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62475
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The human cytomegalovirus usually exhibits life-long persistence. Although it is subclinical for healthy individuals, the virus can cause severe adverse effects on those who are immunoincompetent, such as AIDS patients, which could lead to huamn cytomegalovirus retinits. The retina would be inflammed and result in blindness. Current forms of treatment include administering ganciclovir through various routes such as oral ingestion or intravitreal injections. Biodegradable implants offer advantages such as the ability to provide a constant therapeutic dose and zero dependency on patient compliance. While most research focused on producing biodegradable ganciclovir implants, this study proposed that the prodrug valganciclovir could have increase bioavailability and thus a better candidate as the drug for treatment. Hence valganciclovir was loaded in varying concentrations into different formulations of polymer blends to determine a suitable combination for a controlled release of the drug into the eye. The implants were produced from extrusion, a solvent free method, so as to have manufacturing conditions closer to those needed for mass production. In vitro release studies were conducted over 14 days and formulations with PCL/PLGA 70/30 and 3% or 10% drug load were found to be suitable candidates for future research. This was a preliminary study, thus further research including conducting in vitro release study until all of the drug is released as well as optimizing extrusion conditions are needed to attain the best implant design for the application of treating the virus in the eye.