A UK and Spanish research team used an adapted commercial inkjet printer to load a contact lens (CL) with a controlled dose of the glaucoma medication timolol maleate.

In their study, published in Science Direct, researchers from University College London, University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela and the UK pharmaceutical firm FabRx, said their method has advantages over CLs loaded with drugs by soaking, including personalised treatment. Inkjet printing could also be used to produce different doses for each eye, such as for unilateral glaucoma, and could enable point-of-care production at convenient places for patients who are less mobile, they said.

For more, see www.nzoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/drug-eluting-cl-shows-promise-for-glaucoma/