Novel drug delivery and treatments for glaucoma

Novel Drug Delivery and Treatments for Glaucoma
Sayoko Moroi, Medicine; Steve Schwendeman, Pharmacy; Mark Meyerhoff, Chemistry

Glaucoma remains a major cause of irreversible blindness. Until recently, the main glaucoma surgical interventions lowered eye pressure by making a hole that bypasses the normal outflow drainage pathways. Newer surgical options have been developed that target drainage of the eye. Canaloplasty is a newer glaucoma angle surgery option for lowering eye pressure. This interdisciplinary project proposes (1) to create delivery systems that target wound healing mechanisms; (2) to create delivery systems that target novel pathways to lower eye pressure in the trabecular meshwork, Schlemm’s canal and the downstream venous pathways; and (3) to test the delivery systems in an established organ culture system. The knowledge gained will bring us closer to improve and to predict surgical outcomes by controlling wound healing and have a strong potential to develop novel glaucoma drugs that target outflow drainage pathways that were challenging to target until the availability of a catheter delivery system.