Modular and Programmable Polymeric Platform for Controlled Ocular Drug Delivery (ModDrug)

Impaired vision and blindness show increasing prevalence in the aging populations.
Age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinal degenerations, and diabetic retinal
complications are affecting more than 50 million people world-wide. Pharmaceutical
treatment of these diseases is hampered by the poor drug delivery to the retina in the back of the eye. Since eyedrops and systemic administration (intravenous, per oral) do not work,
retinal drug treatment is accomplished as direct injections to the ocular vitreal cavity. This
procedure is cumbersome, risky and expensive to the health care system. Longer duration of
injections and improved retinal drug targeting are needed.

In this 4-year project we investigate modular polymeric structures that would combine
two important goals in ocular drug delivery: long-duration of action and cellular drug
targeting. The systems must be programmable yielding long retention in the vitreal cavity,
slow drug release in modules and targeting to the retinal cells. We aim to improve the
duration of action and levels of retinal drug delivery by 1-2 orders of magnitude. In the long
term, this drug delivery platform is expected to bring signiLicant improvements to the
ophthalmic drug treatment. Achieving these aims requires multidisciplinary collaboration in
the project. Polymer synthesis is carried out in Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry (Dr. Sami
Hietala), University of Helsinki. Biological testing and pharmacokinetic computer simulations
are done at Centre for Drug Research (prof. Arto Urtti), University of Helsinki.