Magnetically-activated lipid-based colloidal systems as pulsatile on-demand drug delivery systems

Aged-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the widespread causes of permanent blindness. Currently, the most common treatment of wet AMD is intravitreal injection. An alternative drug administration or reducing the frequency of intravitreal injection for wet AMD is of great significance. This project established lipid-based liquid crystalline (LLC) systems, which displayed on-demand drug release under the activation of external magnetic, reducing the frequency of the intravitreal injection in the therapy. Furthermore, a responsive PEGylated LLC system was established in this project and its targeting properties to the diseased eye in an animal model was proved. Combining its long-circulating property and magnetic-triggered drug release, such an approach is promising for systemic administration to deliver the anti-VEGF compounds into the lesion at the back of the eye, circumventing the requirement for intravitreal injection.