Sahar Awwad
UCL School of Pharmacy, UK
Title: The PK-Eye: A novel in vitro aqueous flow model to evaluate ocular pharmacokinetics
Biography
Biography: Sahar Awwad
Abstract
Much effort globally is focused on developing the next generation of therapeutic antibodies and other long acting therapeutics to treat ophthalmic diseases. Most treatments must be administered by intravitreal injection, so an important goal is to develop medicines with an extended residence time within the eye. The development of prolonged acting protein-based therapies is limited by the formation of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) in animal models. We have developed and validated a two-compartment, aqueous outflow model called the PK-Eye to be used for ocular drug development. The model has been designed to aid pre-clinical development by providing an estimate of human ocular pharmacokinetics of protein therapeutics. The model is also appropriate for evaluating long-acting dosage forms, such as suspensions, inserts and devices. This talk will describe new strategies for extending the half-life of drugs for ophthalmic use and their rapid evaluation in the PK-Eye.