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Macular Health debuts oral supplement strip, announces release of spray
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ATLANTA – Macular Health introduced an oral film coated with supplements targeted to patients with age-related macular degeneration here at SECO.
The company also said that it is planning to introduce a similar supplement spray at the upcoming Vision Expo East at the end of the month.
Macular Health announced the strips last week, but they were not available until SECO. The strips are similar to Listerine breath strips and are coated with a mixture of vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, copper, lutein and zeaxanthin.
"For years, pills as a vitamin was all you were able to get," Jeffery McAnnally, president and CEO of Macular Health, said in the press conference. "I patented this brand-new delivery method. We call it MacuStrip, and I can tell you that this has been a huge product for us."
McAnnally said that doctors at SECO are calling the orange-flavored supplement strip "a game-changer."
"Nobody likes to swallow a pill," he explained. "You put this on your tongue or your cheek and it immediately enters the blood stream. It dissolves in 15 seconds in your mouth."
The strips have an absorption rate of 90%, according to McAnnally. In statistics distributed by the company, pills and gel capsules have an absorption rate of 10% and 25%, respectively, according to the Physician's Desk Reference Journal.
"The absorption is impressive," McAnnally said. "Your mouth has more vascularization than any part of your body, and that's why it's so much better absorption-wise."
Unlike the strips, which come in two strip-servings due to limitations of the amount of vitamins that can be applied, the spray can hold more vitamins. The spray has a similar absorption rate, according to McAnnally.
"We're releasing our MacuSpray at a Vision Expo East press conference and at the meeting," McAnnally said. "In the spray bottles, the nozzle comes out sideways, so when you're spraying straight on, it's going into your cheek.”
McAnnally explained that the vitamins are made in the U.S. and are inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"We can guarantee that what's on our label is in our bottle," he explained.
McAnnally said in the press conference that he eventually hopes to expand his technology with other vitamins and medications. – by Chelsea Frajerman