Eyenovations Developing Contact Lens That Delivers Continuous, Extended Release of Medications; Benefit Seen for Glaucoma Patients
May 26, 2009
The MedGadget blog reported last week on contact lenses being developed by a team of researchers from MIT, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and Children’s Hospital Boston, that can deliver a continuous, extended release of pharmaceuticals. Commercial applications of the technology are being developed through a startup company called Eyenovations.
Briefly, the team developed a hydrogel lens with a polymer film inside that contains a medication. The medication is released from the contact lens gradually, and the rate of release can be controlled by altering the properties of the polymer film and the lens. Currently, the lenses can deliver high doses of medication for up to 100 days — a substantial improvement over past efforts in this area.
One positive application may be overcoming the poor compliance of glaucoma patients in taking their eye drops (we’ve previously blogged about how glaucoma medication compliance is very poor). The lens would deliver the required doses automatically without patient intervention.
Read the full blog post on MedGadget.
See a further writeup in the MIT Technology Review.
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One Response to “Eyenovations Developing Contact Lens That Delivers Continuous, Extended Release of Medications; Benefit Seen for Glaucoma Patients”
not practical. i don’t see glaucoma patients wearing contact lenses.
much more promising is qlt’s work on punctal plugs that release glaucoma meds. i believe this will become the new standard. ophthalmologists can easily insert these plugs, and they can slowly release meds for, like, 3 months. this will cure the compliance issue. their initial study was not great, but their last study showed better results. i suppose they will perfect it sooner or later. if you have any money left, i would invest in this company.
