Morgan Fedorchak, PhD, Scientific PI
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology
Email: mod8@pitt.edu
Phone: (412) 624-8625
Ian Conner, MD, Clinical PI
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology & Bioengineering
Director, UPMC Eye Center
Email: connerip@gmail.com
Phone: (412) 647-2200
Glaucoma is a chronic condition currently affecting 2.71 million Americans with prevalence expected to increase 28% by the year 2020. Current US health expenditure for glaucoma is over $2.5 billion. Due to limited bioavailability and poor retention time, many glaucoma drugs require multiple doses per day. This results in only 30% patient adherence level. SoliDrop is a drug delivery system for ocular therapeutics, reducing frequency from 4x per day to only 1x per month and having fewer systemic side effects. Fewer doses typically means greater compliance, which means less risk of increased medical costs due to glaucoma-related vision loss for insurance companies and patients.