# Co-Delivery Dose-Controllable Implants for Advanced Chronic Eye Disease Treatment

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI · 2024 · $80,043

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Chronic posterior eye diseases, such as diabetic macular edema (DME), macular edema (ME) caused by
retinal vein occlusion, wet age-released macular degeneration (wet AMD) and non-infectious posterior uveitis
(NU), are associated with high rates irreversible vision loss. Current standard of care for DME, ME and wet
AMD is monthly intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monoclonal antibody,
Bevacizumab (Bev), or the fragment, Ranibizumab (Ran). In addition, because those diseases are
characterized by inflammation and fibrosis, intravitreal corticosteroid implant injections every 2~6 months is the
mainstay to treat DME, ME, and NU. Recently, combination therapy of intravitreal anti-VEGF and corticosteroid
implant (Ozurdex) injections has been extensively studied in clinical trials to expect better therapeutic efficacy
in those chronic diseases. However, multiple frequent intravitreal injections are not only invasive and
inconvenient for patients but also increase the risk of complications, such as conjunctival hemorrhage, and
increased intraocular pressure (IOP). Especially, the intravitreal corticosteroid treatment causes serious local
side effects, such as cataract and abnormally high IOP which can lead to glaucoma. Because the peak IOP is
highly associated with the drug (dexamethasone, Dex) concentration in the vitreous/retina released from
Ozurdex, we hypothesize that the local side effect is due to the inability to adjust dosage and burst release
characterized by high concentration in shorter time than desired. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that
our novel dose-controllable co-delivery implant of Dex/Ran would reduce the side effects due to uncontrollable
dosage after intravitreal administration, and extend therapeutic efficacy. We recently developed a
biodegradable light-activated implant that can be intravitreally injected and triggered by laser through the lens
of the eye for dose-controlled drug release safely. The drug dosage can be precisely and easily controlled by
varying laser parameters, such as power and duration. The overall goal of this research is to improve the
treatment of chronic posterior eye diseases and reduce side effects caused by current corticosteroid treatment
methods by developing a dose-controllable co-delivery drug implant. The focus of Aim 1 is to complete the
development of a dose-controllable co-delivery Dex/Ran implant and investigate the drug release kinetics in
vitro. Aim 2 focuses on defining effect of different drug delivery methods on reducing side effects, glaucoma,
utilizing human trabecular meshwork cells. Aim 3 will determine in vivo efficacy and reduced side effects of the
implant compared to the traditional methods, i.e. Ozurdex and monthly Ran injections, in a retinal vessel
leakage/edema rabbit model. At the successful completion of this project, expected outcomes include
identifying feasibility of the dose-controllable implants t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10864041
- **Project number:** 5R03TR004429-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
- **Principal Investigator:** Yoonjee Park
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $80,043
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10864041

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10864041, Co-Delivery Dose-Controllable Implants for Advanced Chronic Eye Disease Treatment (5R03TR004429-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10864041. Licensed CC0.

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