ABSTRACT
Now more than ever, focus has been intensi›ed on understanding ocular physiology and factors important in the delivery of therapeutics to the eye. Every year, the number of conferences, papers, dedicated journals, book chapters, and textbooks that focus on drug delivery to the eye continues to increase. Using a Google search engine and the key words “ophthalmic drug delivery” or “ocular drug delivery” constrained by the year 2000 and beyond, the following statistics were returned: conferences, 1,700+ hits; book chapters or journals, 8,250 hits; papers, 14,800 hits; web sites, 71 hits. Statistics such as these reinforce the premise of the importance and
14.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................285 14.2 Sophistication of Drug Modalities ................................................................286 14.3 Drug Characteristics versus Anatomic and Physiological Factors in
Ocular Drug Delivery ...................................................................................287 14.3.1 Anterior Segment Drug Delivery .....................................................287 14.3.2 Posterior Segment Drug Delivery ..................................................... 289
14.3.2.1 Posterior Segment Physiological Considerations for Drug Delivery .................................................................... 289
14.3.2.2 Systemic versus Ocular PK ................................................ 289 14.3.2.3 Transport across Cell Membranes .....................................290
14.4 RNA Interference and Gene Delivery Challenges ....................................... 293 14.5 Summary ......................................................................................................296 References ..............................................................................................................296
