Patent ID: 8399006

Claim:
A therapeutic device to treat an eye of a patient, the eye having a posterior chamber and a sclera, the therapeutic device comprising: a rigid-walled, refillable reservoir having a volume, the reservoir adapted to reside in the posterior chamber when the device is implanted in the eye; a rigid, porous structure having a plurality of interconnecting, irregularly shaped channels, the porous structure located at a distal region of the reservoir and tuned to release a predetermined rate profile of a particular therapeutic agent from the reservoir through the plurality of channels and into the posterior chamber to treat the eye for an extended period of time; a proximal cap portion positioned proximal of the reservoir and adapted to be positioned outside the sclera when the device is implanted in the eye, the cap portion comprising a retention structure and a penetrable, non-permeable barrier to introduce the therapeutic agent into the device without any need to explant the device during introduction of the therapeutic agent into the device; and a neck portion positioned between the cap portion and the reservoir portion and defined by a reduced cross-sectional dimension relative to the reservoir and the cap portion, wherein the sclera is positioned about the neck portion when the device is positioned in the eye.