Long-Term Sustained Release from a Biodegradable Photo-Cross-Linked Network for Intraocular Corticosteroid Delivery

Intravitreal sustained delivery of corticosteroids such as dexamethasone is an effective means of treating a number of ocular diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, and age-related or diabetic macular edema. There are currently marketed devices for this purpose, yet only one, Ozurdex, is degradable. In vitro release of dexamethasone from the Ozurdex device is limited to approximately 30 days, however. It was the objective of this study to examine the potential for prolonged and sustained release of a corticosteroid in vitro from a degradable polymer prepared from terminally acrylated star co- and ter-prepolymers composed of d,l-lactide, ε-caprolactone, and trimethylene carbonate co-photo-cross-linked with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. Through manipulation of the network polymer glass transition temperature and degradation rate, a sustained release of triamcinolone was achieved, with an estimated release duration greater than twice that of the Ozurdex system. Moreover, a period of nearly constant release was obtained using a network prepared from 5000 Da star-poly(trimethylene carbonate-co-d,l-lactide) triacrylate (3:1 trimethylene carbonate:d,l-lactide) co-cross-linked with 700 Da poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate). These formulations show promise as implantable, intravitreal corticosteroid delivery devices.