This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Clinical trials to begin on extended depth of focus contacts
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Brien Holden, PhD, DSc, FAAO, announced here at an academy-sponsored press conference that the Brien Holden Vision commercial companies are developing an extended depth of focus hydrogel lens to provide presbyopes with good vision at all distances, especially intermediate.
“A contact lens that gives good to excellent quality of vision over a wide range of optical distances has long been an aspiration of the industry; Brien Holden Vision (BHV) presbyopia lenses aim to fill that very important gap,” according to a BHV press release.
Holden said at the press conference that the new technology “uses higher-order aberrations to optimize retinal image quality over a wide range of distances from far to near while minimizing ghosting and halos. Performance is independent of a patient’s natural aberrations and variations in pupil size.”
Brien Holden
He said the lens, which will first be available in daily disposable etafilcon material with 58% water content, has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval.
Holden also said at the press conference that BHV has established seven commercial organizations to bring products to market that will improve vision and people’s lives.
The revenues generated from these products will “fund programs to develop further outstanding products and help deliver affordable, quality vision for everyone everywhere,” according to the press release.
Other products will include a contact lens for myopia control, retinal imaging technology and The Drop, Holden said, without elaborating on the last product mentioned.
Holden said for the last 40 years the Brien Holden Vision Institute has collaborated with a number of companies on various products: silicone hydrogels with CIBA Vision, toric lenses with Ocular Sciences and silicone hydrogel multifocal lenses with Alcon.
“We will receive $250 million in royalties,” he said, which will be used to fund further research and philanthropic efforts around the world.