Agents for corneal or intrastromal administration to treat or prevent disorders of the eye

Abstract

The invention provides methods and preparations for treating disorders of the eye and/or causing dissolution of corneal proteoglycans and organized healing of corneal stroma, softening of the cornea for non-surgical refractive correction of eyesight, removing corneal haze and opacification, inhibiting fibroblasts and preventing corneal fibrosis and scar formation, treating pterigiums and treating corneal neovascularization as well as iris neovascularization. Preparations containing a) urea, b) urea derivatives (e.g., hydroxyurea, thiourea), c) antimetabolites, e) urea, urea derivatives, non-enzymatic proteins, nucleosides, nucleotides and their derivatives (e.g., adenine, adenosine, cytosine, cytadine, guanine, guanitadine, guanidinium, guanidinium chloride, guanidinium salts, thymidine, thymitadine, uradine, uracil, cysteine), reduced thioctic acid, uric acid, calcium acetyl salicylate, ammonium sulfate, isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol or other compounds capable of causing nonenzymatic dissoultion of the corneal protoeglycans or f) any of the possible combinations thereof, are administered to the eye in therapeutically effective amounts.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims priority to US Provisional Application 60 / 363,979, filed March 14, 2003, which is hereby incorporated by reference. This application is also a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10 / 215,680, filed August 9, 2002, entitled "Intravitreal Administration of Agents for the Treatment or Prevention of Ocular Disorders," so The said application is a continuation-in-part of US Patent Application No. 09 / 517,798 filed March 2, 2000, now issued US Patent 6,462,071 B1. field of invention [0003] The present invention relates generally to pharmaceutical formulations and methods of medical treatment, in particular agents (i.e. urea, urea derivatives, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antimetabolites). Background of the invention [0004] Current Uses of Urea in Ophthalmology [0005] US Patents 5,629,344 (Charlton) and 5,470,881 (Charlton) describe specific therape...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The main disadvantages of RK include: a) it can only be used to correct low myopia, b) this surgical procedure does not correct hypermetropia, c) the RK procedure severely weakens the cornea and produces corneal scarring, d) this change in corneal curvature is Temporary, will continue to change frequently over time

However once the desired curvature is achieved, a maintenance hard contact lens must be worn to stabilize the effect or regression may occur