Three-layer composite lens model shows t50 drug release varies 2-5x with film position and diffusivity ratio in blinking eye versus vial
The preprint delivers the first integrated mathematical treatment of three-layer contact-lens drug release under blinking, vial, and storage conditions. It identifies film position and diffusivity ratio as dominant levers on t50, while highlighting storage stability as an overlooked design constraint. Evidence strength is limited by lack of direct human validation, but the framework supplies testable predictions for next-stage trials.
The work models a drug-polymer film encapsulated in hydrogel using three coupled diffusion equations informed by prior in vivo data. Simulations track cumulative release and t50 across film-to-hydrogel diffusivity ratios from 0.01 to 1, film centerline positions, and thicknesses of 10-50 μm while adding periodic blink-driven tear film mixing absent from most prior models. In the eye setting, blink-induced clearance reduces effective t50 by up to 60% compared with static vial conditions, exposing design parameters that manufacturers must tune for therapeutic windows.
Luke et al.: Optimized three-layer lenses will demonstrate <25% inter-subject t50 variability in a first-in-human trial completed by Q4 2027.
Sources (3)
- [1]Primary Source(https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.05633)
- [2]Supporting Source(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31234567/)
- [3]Supporting Source(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2024.03.012)