Drug-eluting contact lens containing cyclosporine-loaded cholesterol-hyaluronate micelles for dry eye syndrome

A contact lens is an attractive tool for the delivery of ophthalmic drugs, but it has several issues such as the burst release of drugs and the limited drug loading capacity. To overcome these limitations, we developed a cholesterol-hyaluronate (C-HA) micelle-embedded contact lens for efficient hydrophobic drug loading and long-term controlled drug delivery. The contact lens was fabricated via photopolymerization of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) using ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a cross-linker. The C-HA micelle-loaded contact lens showed statistically significant improvement in wettability and mechanical strength, maintaining the optical transmittance. In vitro drug release tests revealed the controlled delivery of cyclosporine for more than 12 days. Furthermore, the Schirmer tear test, corneal fluorescein staining, and MMP9 fluorescein analysis confirmed its therapeutic effect on dry eye syndrome in disease model rabbits.