Drug Delivery and Translational Research Update

At the DDTR editorial board meeting held during the CRS annual meeting in Seattle, I updated several parameters related to the journal and presented my vision for further growth. The most significant news was a 130% increase in citations compared with the year ending July 2015. Since the first impact factor (IF) for DDTR was announced in the summer of 2016, the journal is also receiving increased submissions. Along with DDTR, Thompson Reuters announced a list of 239 journals that received their first IF. I glanced through the list and randomly collected the IF of 24 journals that were the most relevant to medical, biological, and material sciences. The first IF of DDTR was 1.887, which was higher than the IF of around 80% of the journals from my list of 24. The journals with IF higher than DDTR were mostly clinical journals, which usually receive higher numbers of citations. Considering this analysis, I feel that DDTR did very well. DDTR is also developing several special issues that are focused on drug delivery in different disease conditions. The upcoming December issue is on ocular drug delivery. This elegantly developed special issue contains reviews and research articles that highlight advances in drug delivery for treating different eye conditions. You can access all DDTR articles for free as a member benefit by logging on to the CRS website.

Special Issue: Ocular Drug Delivery (Volume 6, Issue 6, 2016)

The estimated number of visually impaired people in the world is 285 million, with 39 million being blind and 246 million having low vision. About 65% of visually impaired people and 82% of all blind people are 50 years or older. Four major blinding diseases are age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, and glaucoma, and while there are many effective medications to treat these conditions, the challenge remains to deliver them effectively with a sustained release profile and with minimal side effects. One would think that a small organ such as the eye, which is readily accessible from the outside of the body, would be easy to treat. However, the eye is a rather isolated organ with a number of barriers in place to protect it from the environment, posing major challenges to effective drug delivery. Therefore, achieving sufficiently high concentrations at the target site and maintaining these over prolonged periods of time with minimal side effects offer great opportunities for new product development, especially when using already FDA-approved drugs with well-known safety and efficacy. This special ocular drug delivery issue includes advances in ocular drug delivery technologies for both anterior and posterior segment diseases, while also highlighting the current challenges faced with regard to the ocular barriers present as well as the establishment of suitable models to reliably test the developed systems and thus avoid failure in clinical trials. Guest editors are Ilva Rupenthal and Michael O’Rourke.

Ilva Rupenthal received a B.Pharm. from Philipp University of Marburg, Germany, in 2003 and completed a Ph.D. on “Ocular Delivery of Antisense Oligonucleotides” with the School of Pharmacy and the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Auckland, in February 2008. In 2010, Ilva was awarded a three-year New Zealand Science and Technology Postdoctoral Fellowship to establish an ophthalmic pharmaceutics group within the New Zealand National Eye Centre, with pharmaceutical scientists working alongside clinician-researchers to help translate cutting-edge eye research into clinical applications. Ilva was subsequently appointed as a senior lecturer and director of the Buchanan Ocular Therapeutics Unit (www.botu.nz) at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, which aims to translate ocular therapeutic– related scientific research into the clinical setting, whether pharmaceutical, cell, or technology based. Ilva’s current research, cofunded by a Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship from the New Zealand Health Research Council, focuses predominantly on the development of stimuli-response ocular drug delivery systems, with projects investigating implants responsive to light or a small electrical current. Ilva’s team, including six Ph.D. candidates, is also investigating other ocular therapeutics in the area of dry eye, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration management. Ilva is an author on over 40 scientific research publications and has attracted over NZ$4.8 million in research funding. She has received several awards, including the Health Research Council 25th Anniversary Emerging Researcher Excellence Award in 2016 and the University of Auckland Early Career Research Excellence Award in 2014, while also winning Spark Entrepreneurship Ideas Challenges in 2012 and 2014 for her innovative ocular drug delivery ideas. Ilva is an active member of the Controlled Release Society and acts as a reviewer for a number of international pharmaceutical and ophthalmological journals as well as international funding bodies.

Michael O’Rourke, president of Scotia Vision Consultants, has been involved in drug delivery for over 30 years across ophthalmology, periodontal, and pulmonary markets, including strategy development and global commercialization; previous companies include 3M Pharma, Pfizer, Alza, Chiron Vision, Bausch + Lomb, and GrayBug. Scotia Vision works with and advises ophthalmic companies on all aspects of commercialization and product development with a focus on anterior and posterior ocular drug delivery. Prior to establishing Scotia Vision Consultants in 2009, Michael was general manager for Bausch + Lomb’s U.S. pharmaceuticals division in Tampa, Florida, with full P&L and operating responsibility, transforming the business to record levels of growth and managing 150 employees. Previously, he pioneered new Bausch + Lomb global strategy divisions, including pharmaceutical, drug delivery, and surgical products in California and New York. His ocular drug delivery experience includes launching the world’s first intraocular drug delivery technology in Europe, Vitrasert® , and the world’s second, Retisert® , in the United States. Michael was the first European marketing director for Chiron Vision Europe. Additional experience includes Alza International (drug delivery), establishing their European division and launching the world’s first sustained release technology treating periodontitis, Actisite® . At 3M, Michael worked in both sales and marketing for new sustained release therapeutics and enhanced aerosol delivery technologies treating pulmonary disease. Michael has managed 28 brands, led 13 product launches, structured/ negotiated 12 strategic business deals, and been a team member in 18 device/drug approvals. Michael has both presented and published within ophthalmology at congresses and within respected journals. He is chairman of the foundation board for the Lions Eye Institute, a guest speaker on strategic planning at the University of Tampa, and was a part-time marketing lecturer at Trent University in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He is a native of Scotland and has lived and worked in Europe, the United States, and Asia. In 2010 he became a member of the GlobalScot business network, assisting Scottish-based life science companies in planning for U.S. market entry. He currently resides in Tampa, Florida (scotiavc@gmail.com, +1.813.323.1438, www.scotiavisionllc.com).