Getting an eyeful

Eden Prairie, MN-based SurModics, has obtained an option to acquire an exclusive license from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, to two classes of biodegradable polymers for use in the delivery of drugs to the eye.

Biodegradable polymers have the ability to be combined with one or more drugs and applied to a medical device, or administered alone with a drug, yet are naturally degraded in the body over time.

Both of the licensed polymer families from Rutgers, known as polycarbonates and polyarylates, are derived from the amino acid tyrosine, a naturally occurring substance in the body. They were developed by Dr. Joachim Kohn, Director of the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials and Professor at Rutgers.

Earlier this year, SurModics acquired InnoRx's, the developer of a drug coated intravitreal implant. Now, the company plans to use the new Rutgers polymers in consort with the InnoRx implant technology to deliver a variety of drugs and other bioactive agents to the eye, treating such serious diseases as age related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME) as well as glaucoma.