Self-gelling elastin and silk-elastin recombinamers for ophthalmic applications

FERNANDEZ ALICIA; QUINTEROS DANIELA; BERMUDEZ JOSE; PALMA SANTIAGO; RODRIGUEZ CABELLO CARLOS; ARIAS JAVIER

Cracovia

Conferencia; 27th European Conference on Biomaterials; 2015

The development of TOPICAL OPHTHALMIC FORMULATIONS for the treatment of eye diseases such as glaucoma, present a challenge1, since most drugs are hardly absorbed, having bioavailabilities from 1-10%. Among other factors, such low bioavailability is consequence of a rapid and extensive loss of the formulation from the pre-corneal area due to the turnover of the lacrimal drainage. An alternative to increase the residence time of formulations in the area of application is the use of bioadhesive systems. Taking this into account, here we developed an elastin-like and a silk-elastin like recombinamers2,3, named respectively as ELR and SELR, for their incorporation in an ophthalmic formulation against glaucoma. Our hypothesis is that due to the thermo-sensitive behavior of these materials, the formulation could be administered topically as drops, and once sensing the temperature of the eye, suffer a shift to a GEL SYSTEM, which could help to prolong the permanence of the formulation in the eye, and therefore, could enhance the therapeutic effect.