A NOVEL CORTICOSTEROID CUBOSOMES – FOR OCULAR DRUG DELIVERY

Corticosteroid containing ocular formulation is very exigent tasks faced by the pharmaceutical industry while designing drugs acting on various ocular related diseases. Because ocular drug delivery faces various limitations like complex ocular anatomy and poor ocular bioavailability of drugs due to the high turnover rate of tears, lower corneal permeation, and rapid nasolacrimal drainage, and most important is irritation to the eye caused due to corticosteroid structure. The preferred dosage form for ocular delivery of corticosteroid is a solution or the ointment, but to sustain the level of drug at the target site during therapy is not possible so it is necessary to formulate novel drug delivery techniques. A large number of novel carrier drug delivery systems systems have been developed to overcome the above problems but among them, cubosomal drug delivery is a safe and effective technique for corticosteroid ocular drug delivery. Cubosomes are distinct, sub-micron; self assembles liquid crystalline particles having honeycomb (cavernous) structure which separate two internal aqueous channels and large interfacial area; having particle size ranges from 10-500 nm in diameter. This review briefly describes the ocular administration of corticosteroids with the cubosomal drug delivery system along with various drugs studied in ocular drug delivery, a method used for the preparation of Ocular cubosomes and its evaluation parameter. The benefits of cubosomal drug delivery will likely be applied widely in all treatment, diagnostic, and research aspects of ophthalmology in the future.