Bimatoprost Imprinted Silicone Contact Lens to Treat Glaucoma.

Bimatoprost is widely used for the management of glaucoma. Currently, it is delivered via eye drop solution, which is highly inefficient due to low bioavailability. To control the release of ocular drugs, contact lenses are used by scientists. However, the conventional soaking method showed high burst release due to absence of any efficient controlling membrane. The objective of the paper was to apply molecular imprinting technology to improve the loading of bimatoprost from the soaking solution and to sustain the release of drug from the contact lens. The bimatoprost was loaded by conventional soaking method (BT-SM) and compared with the molecular imprinted contact lenses (BT-MP). The loading of bimatoprost by molecular imprinting technology affect the swelling of the contact lens; however, the batch BT-MP-10 did not showed significant alterations. The uptake study showed improvement in the bimatoprost loading by molecular imprinting technology in comparison to the conventional soaking technology. The in vitro bimatoprost release data showed improvement in the bimatoprost release rate profiles with BT-MP contact lenses (up to 36-60 h) lenses in comparison to BT-SM contact lenses (up to 24-36 h). The in vivo rabbit tear fluid data with BT-MP batch showed improvement in the bimatoprost retention time in comparison to BT-SM contact lens and eye drop solution. The rabbit model failed to respond bimatoprost; thus, the efficacy studies need to be conducted on canines or human primates. The paper revealed the potential of using molecular imprinting technology to improve the uptake of bimatoprost and to achieve sustain release kinetics without altering the swelling, transmittance and folding endurance properties of the contact lens.