Other

Escalon Medical Corporation

Escalon Ophthalmics, Inc.

Animal House, Inc.

Sohrab Darougar

Alan L Weiner

Victor Albert Raul

David Clayton Gantner

Padmanabh Pravinchandra Bhatt

A flexible ocular insert device adapted for the controlled sustained release of an ophthalmic drug into the eye. In one embodiment, the device includes an elongated body of a polymeric material in the form of a rod or tube containing a pharmaceutically active ingredient and with at least two anchoring protrusions extending radially outwardly from the body. The device has a length of at least 8 mm and the diameter of its body portion including the protrusions does not exceed 1.9 mm. The sustained release mechanism may, for example, be by diffusion or by osmosis or bioerosion. The insert device is advantageously inserted into the upper or lower fornix of the eye so as to be independent of movement of the eye by virtue of the fornix anatomy. The protrusions may be of various shapes such as, for example, ribs, screw threads, dimples or bumps, truncated cone-shaped segments or winding braid segments. In a further embodiment, the polymeric material for the body is selected as one which swells in a liquid environment. Thus a device of smaller initial size may be employed. The present insert device is of a size and configuration such that, upon insertion into the upper or lower fornix, the device remains out of the field of vision so as to be well retained in place and imperceptible by a patient over a prolonged period of use. The device can be retained in the upper or lower fornix for 7 to 14 days or longer.

Ocular insert with anchoring protrusions

A flexible ocular insert device adapted for the controlled sustained release of an ophthalmic drug into the eye, wherein the device includes an elongated cylindrical shaped body having a length of at least 8 mm and with the diameter of its body portion not exceeding 1.9 mm. The sustained release mechanism may be by diffusion or by osmosis or bioerosion. The insert device is advantageously inserted into the upper or lower fornix of the eye so as to be independent of movement of the eye by virtue of the fornix anatomy. In one embodiment of the invention, an insert device having a length of 8 to 25 mm, to suit eyes of different sizes, was employed for use in the lower fornix and a device having a length of 8 to 35 mm was employed for use in the upper fornix. The present insert device is of a size and configuration such that, upon insertion into the upper or lower fornix, the device remains out of the field of vision so as to be well retained in place and imperceptible by a patient over a prolonged period of use. Thus the device can be retained in the upper or lower fornix for 7 to 14 days or longer.

Ocular insert for the fornix

A probe is provided for collecting mucous tissue samples in vivo particularly from the conjunctiva, the urethra and the cervix. The probe comprises a handle portion and a body portion, which is slotted for scraping tissue into the slots. The tissue sample may then be introduced into an aqueous transport medium comprising sucrose, potassium phosphates, foetal bovine serum, streptomycin, vancomycin and nystatin. The sample may be smeared from the transport medium, with the cells still intact onto a slide, using a cytocentrifuge; and then the smear is assayed for disease, for example disease due to adenovirus, herpes simplex virus or chlamydia. The assay step may include single or multiple immunofluorescent staining.

Diagnostic methods

Growing community of inventors

Croydon, United Kingdom

Sohrab Darougar