An international team has developed a self-plugging, drug-tipped microneedle to reduce the inflammation risks and guard against other possible complications of repeated intravitreal injections.

Led by Assistant Professor JangJu Lee from Chonnam National University in South Korea, researchers fabricated the microneedles, coating them with a polymeric drug carrier and a hydrogel-based scleral plug at the blunt end. Using a porcine model, they confirmed sustained intraocular drug delivery without signs of inflammation or tissue disruption at the application site, while the plug preserved internal eyeball pressure following insertion.

The full study was published in Advanced Healthcare Materials.