New, drug-eluting soft contact lens technology has been shown to deliver a number of different drugs directly to the eye and may soon improve post-operative recovery for millions of people who undergo cataract and LASIK surgery or suffer corneal abrasions every year.
The new, extended-wear contact, developed by Biomedical researchers at Rowan University and Auburn University, controls the release of anti-inflammatory, antibiotic and pain-reducing drugs that are delivered evenly over time. The new technology can potentially reduce recovery time and post-operative complications thereby reducing health care cost. Eye drops can wash out quickly with only about 5% of the therapy reaching the target tissue. Eye drops can be hard to administer, and the low delivered concentration of medication tends to aggravate post-operative complications.
“Patients who undergo eye surgery for cataracts, LASIK or who suffer corneal abrasions can experience longer healing times, complications, and even infections if proper care, including administering eye drops, is not properly followed,” said Dr Mark Byrne, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Rowan University, inventor of the technology. “Our research shows the new contact lens technology is expected to lead to higher efficacy for patients compared to topical eye drops by improving compliance and mitigating concentration peaks and valleys associated with multiple drops.”
“In addition to serving patients who have undergone surgery, as a platform technology, the therapeutic lens has been applied to other diseases of the eye including dry eye and glaucoma,” said Keith Ignotz, President and Chief Executive Officer of OcuMedic, Inc. which is commercializing the technology. “The current therapeutic eye drops market is $16 billion annually. A successful drug-eluting, soft contact lens - that could potentially capture a large part of that market - is expected to garner significant interest from large pharma companies.”
OcuMedic is expected to begin clinical studies necessary for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval this year, first as an in-vivo study for the FDA to navigate into the Phase 1 – 2 human trials in 2019.
