원문정보
초록
영어
Hyaluronic acid (HA, sodium hyaluronate) is a glycosaminoglycan found abundantly in connective, epithelial, and neural tissues, which was first discovered by Karl Meyer and John Palmer in 1934. HA's high capacity for holding water and high viscoelasticity give it a unique profile among biological materials and make it suitable for various medical and pharmaceutical applications. One of the most successful medical applications of HA is the use of HA hydrogel for the treatment of osteoarthritis, based on the concept of Balazs and Denlinger.1 Also The application of HA in ophthalmology can be cited as another typical medical application. Balazs2 proposed a method using viscoelastic materials (HA) during ophthalmic surgeries. Further applications of HA can be found in artificial tears for dry eye syndrome, drug delivery matrix, wound-healing dressing, and so forth. Recently, chemical modification of HA has been an issue in biomaterials research area. With enhanced chemical and physical characteristics and yet indigenous biocompatibility, HA derivatives have been widely used as a potent biomaterial in variety of fields. The most widely spread application of derivatized HA is injectable dermal filler for soft tissue augmentation. Further applications can be found in post-surgery anti-adhesion barriers and osteoarthritis treatment of single injection regimen. LG Life Sciences Ltd. has been the leading company in Korean HA viscosupplement market, which has been developing variety of HA pharmaceutical products since 1992. In this lecture, the general development procedure and the commercial prospects of HA and HA derivative products are introduced.