Research Progress on Hydrogel-based Sustained and Controlled Drug Delivery for Glaucoma

Glaucoma affects normal visual function seriously,but the efficiency of drug treatment is low.Sustained and controlled-release ophthalmic preparations can prolong the duration time of the drug,reduce the times of administrations,and improve patient compliance.Hydrogels are a class of materials that are extremely versatile in ophthalmology.Preformed gels and in situ gels show great potential for the sustained delivery of ophthalmic drugs.Preformed gels represented by contact lenses provide sustained drug release and prolonged drug duration time while in situ gels have the advantage of both ease of administration and delayed release of drugs.The research progress of sustained and controlled release gels in the delivery of anti-glaucoma drugs in recent years are summarized,the current challenges during research and application process are discussed,expected to provide the reference for its clinical application.