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In vivo and in vitro sustained release of ranibizumab from a nanoporous thin-film device

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Abstract

Current administration of ranibizumab and other therapeutic macromolecules to the vitreous and retina carries ocular risks, a high patient treatment burden, and compliance barriers that can lead to suboptimal treatment. Here we introduce a device that produces sustained release of ranibizumab in the vitreous cavity over the course of several months. Composed of twin nanoporous polymer thin films surrounding a ranibizumab reservoir, these devices provide release of ranibizumab over 16 weeks in vitro and 12 weeks in vivo, without exhausting the initial drug payload. Following implantation in vivo, devices were well-tolerated and showed no sign of immune response. This platform presents a potential solution to the challenge of delivering protein therapeutics to the vitreous and retina for sustained periods of time.

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Acknowledgment

The work was supported by funds from National Institutes of Health (R01-EY021574). We gratefully acknowledge use of the Carl Zeiss Ultra 55 FE-SEM and supporting equipment at SF State. The FE-SEM and supporting facilities were obtained under NSF-MRI award no. 0821619 and NSF-EAR award no. 0949176, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UC Berkeley - UCSF Graduate Group in Bioengineering, 1700 4th Street, QB3 Byers Hall, Room 203, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA

    Kevin D. Lance & Tejal A. Desai

  2. Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA

    Daniel A. Bernards, Natalie A. Ciaccio & Tejal A. Desai

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Francisco, 400 Parnassus Ave, 7th Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Samuel D. Good, Thaís S. Mendes, Max Kudisch, Elliot Chan, Mynna Ishikiriyama & Robert B. Bhisitkul

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  1. Kevin D. Lance
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tejal A. Desai.

Ethics declarations

All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. All animal studies were performed following the ARVO statement for the use of animals in ophthalmic research, and the experimental protocols were approved by the University of California San Francisco Committee on Animal Research.

Conflict of interest

Authors KDL, NAC, SDG, TSM, MK, EC, and MI declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Authors DAB, RBB, and TAD have founded a company based upon this technology.

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Lance, K.D., Bernards, D.A., Ciaccio, N.A. et al. In vivo and in vitro sustained release of ranibizumab from a nanoporous thin-film device. Drug Deliv. and Transl. Res. 6, 771–780 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-016-0298-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-016-0298-7

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