Recent advances and future perspectives of long-acting ophthalmic preparations (LAOPs) in clinical applications.

Journal: Biomaterials science
Published Date: Jun 18, 2025

Abstract

The intricate structure of ocular barriers significantly impedes drug penetration, leading to suboptimal efficacy of conventional ophthalmic formulations. Sustained/controlled-release long-acting ophthalmic preparations (LAOPs) address these limitations by prolonging drug retention, reducing dosing frequency, and enhancing therapeutic precision. This review categorizes clinically validated LAOPs by administration route, highlighting both market-approved products and investigational candidates in ongoing clinical trials. We detail mechanistic principles governing sustained-release systems while critically evaluating their translational challenges, including interspecies prediction gaps, long-term biocompatibility risks, and manufacturing reproducibility issues. The review concludes with a strategic roadmap to accelerate clinical translation of LAOPs, emphasizing molecular-level decoding of ocular disease pathways, computational modeling frameworks, bioengineered organoid models, and artificial intelligence (AI)-augmented manufacturing processes. These multidisciplinary advances position LAOPs to transform ophthalmic care through efficient, safe and personalized therapeutic paradigms. This targeted review aims to provide clinically relevant insights to guide future therapeutic development of LAOPs.

Authors

  • Bo Wang
    Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine Center, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region People's Hospital, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
  • Meng Zhang
    College of Software, Beihang University, Beijing, China.
  • Weijiang Chen
    Wuhan Leadpharm Technology Co., Ltd, 858 Gaoxin Avenue, Wuhan, 430205, China.
  • Chengjing Yin
    Department of Pharmaceutical, School of Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, 24 Tongjia Xiang, Nanjing, 210009, China. cpufengc@cpu.edu.cn.
  • Hongtao Zhao
    State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
  • Guoguang Chen
    College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, No. 30 Puzhu Road, Nanjing, 211816, China. guoguangchen@163.com.
  • Feng Cao
    Department of Cardiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China; Department of Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.

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