Researchers identify 'magic bullet' eye drop

Painful eye injections to treat conditions such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) could be alleviated by the development of an eye drop innovation.

Researchers at University College London’s Institute of Ophthalmology have managed to deliver significant concentrations of nanoparticles loaded with AMD drug Avastin to the back of the eyes of rats and rabbits.

First author Dr Ben Davis said: ‘In theory, you could customise the technology for different drugs such as Lucentis, commonly used for AMD treatment in the UK, as it is a smaller molecule than Avastin so likely to be delivered effectively via this method.’

It was reported that phospholipid binding protein annexin A5 significantly enhanced uptake of the drug carrier systems.