335 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 A. Misra, A. Shahiwala (eds.), Novel Drug Delivery Technologies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3642-3_10 A. Desai · M. Shukla · F. Maulvi · K. Ranch (*) Department of Pharmaceutics, Maliba Pharmacy College, Uka Tarsadia University, Surat, Gujarat, India 10 Ophthalmic and Otic Drug Administration: Novel Approaches and Challenges Ankita Desai, Manish Shukla, Furqan Maulvi, and Ketan Ranch Contents 10.1 Ocular Drug Delivery 337 10.1.1 General Introduction to Ocular Drug Delivery 337 10.1.1.1 Mechanism of Ocular Drug Absorption 337 10.1.1.2 Routes of Ocular Drug Delivery-Conventional vs. Novel Routes 338 10.1.1.3 Challenges for Ophthalmic Drug Delivery Systems 339 10.1.2 Important Factors for Ophthalmic Drug Delivery Systems 340 10.1.2.1 Barriers to Restrict Intraocular Drug Transport/Factors Affecting Intraocular Bioavailability 340 10.1.2.2 Physicochemical Property of Drug Candidate 341 10.1.2.3 Formulation Factors 342 10.1.3 Ideal Characteristics of Ocular Drug Delivery Systems 344 10.1.4 Conventional Dosage Forms for Ocular Drug Delivery with Their Limitations 344 10.1.4.1 Topical Eye Drops 345 10.1.4.2 Emulsions 346 10.1.4.3 Suspensions 346 10.1.4.4 Semisolid Ophthalmic Drug Forms: Eye Ointments 347 10.1.5 Novel Strategies/Approaches to Enhance Ocular Bioavailability 347 10.1.5.1 Nanotechnology-Based Ocular Drug Delivery 347 10.1.5.2 Polymer Gels 352 10.1.5.3 Other Drug Delivery Systems 355 10.1.6 New Trends/Emerging Technologies for Ocular Drug Delivery 357 10.1.6.1 Punctal Plug Delivery System (PPDS) or Evolute® 357 10.1.6.2 DelSiTech® 358 10.1.6.3 OpsiSporin 360 10.1.6.4 ForSight VISION5® 361 10.1.6.5 OcuSurf™ 362 10.1.7 Biodegradable Polymers for Ophthalmic Applications 364 10.1.7.1 Natural Biodegradable Polymers 364