News
Vision correction drops 'by 2010'
A pharmaceutical method of stabilising corneal shape when used with overnight contact lens wear could be commercially available in Europe as early as 2010, according to the US company developing the product.
Virginia-based Euclid Systems says that the eyedrop, known as Stableyz, is undergoing trials and will enter the market once CE certification is completed.
Euclid says it has supplied its Emerald overnight vision correction lens to over 70,000 patients in North America and 30,000 in Asia. The lens is to be marketed in the UK from next month under the i-GO brand (News, January 25).
Speaking at an i-GO launch event in London last week, Euclid vice president, operations and R&D George Glady said the aim was to achieve long-term vision correction by chemical setting of the cornea. Euclid held patents for various ophthalmic applications and pre-clinical trials were under way in Mexico, he said.
The main constituent of Stableyz, decorin, is a naturally occurring substance also found in the corneal stroma. If decorin was attached to key bonding sites on the stromal lamina, the cornea could be held in the desired shape created by the overnight vision correction lens for 'days, weeks or months', said Grady.
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