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TearLab granted patent for tear biomarker analysis
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SAN DIEGO — TearLab Corporation was granted a patent for intellectual property rights to expand beyond the platform for tear film osmolarity testing, the company announced in a press release.
The patent grants TearLab "broad and blocking intellectual property" relating to the normalization of biomarkers for more accurate analysis of tear film osmolarity.
Concentrations of proteins, genes or small molecules in the tear film can vary substantially over short periods of time in dry eye patients, possibly leading to inaccurate readings of the tear sample, according to the release.
"Because this variability is the hallmark of dry eye disease, and the prevalence of dry eye is very high in older populations, there is a need to normalize biomarker concentrations against the instantaneous osmolarity of a tear sample," Benjamin Sullivan, PhD, TearLab's chief scientific officer, said in the release.