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Contact lens industry experts look past silicone hydrogel
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NEW YORK – Embracing new ideas may be one of the biggest challenges to progress in developing new contact lens materials, according to a panel of scientists.
The group participated in a discussion moderated by Scot Morris, OD, here at the Contact Lens Global Forum, held prior to Vision Expo East.
“We’ve all experienced the fact that hydrogels still play a big part in what we’re doing today,” Kurt Moody, OD, director of clinical new product development, research and development, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, said. “We have hydrogels for that specific group of patients and we have our silicone hydrogels.”
“The hardest thing is keeping an open mind to a new idea,” George L. Grobe III, PhD, vice president, surgical and vision care, research and development for Bausch + Lomb, said. “We’ve become so structured in what we believe, it’s hard to allow a really new idea to enter the space. Maybe it’s not a hydrogel?”
Neal White, vice president of research and development for Synergeyes said: “Can it do what we need it to do? Will it work on a regular cornea? Can our patients wear it? Is it going to be a comfortable lens – more comfortable than the last one?”
Vic McCray, MD, CEO and founder of Tangible Science, said scientists need to separate the underlying materials from the surface properties, “which gives us more freedom in developing new materials, then we can apply something more biocompatible.”
Nancy Keir, OD, senior director of new technologies, research and development, CooperVision, added, “having a material that makes a meaningful, clinical change, solving discomfort problems.”
George Yao, PhD, head of research and development for global vision care, Alcon, said, “We see surface, lubricity, edge, modulus, water content ... it’s a whole package of properties.”
Moody stressed the importance of understanding the patient’s needs.
“If I can create a material that mimics nature as close as possible, that’s a home run,” he said. “We’re putting a 100-micron lens on there, and we need to create a material that works in conjunction with the 5- to 10-micron tear film.”
Yao said the material must cause minimal interruption to tear film at the lowest cost.
“Making sure you can make your material is affordable to mass customers is important, too, as is performance and manufacturing,” he said.
Grobe commented on wettability.
“We tend to fool ourselves with wettability and don’t talk about it in a proper way when we’re comparing materials,” he said. “If you put acid in a material, you’ll get great wettability, but is it compatible with the eye, as it pulls a lot of protein out and may not be the best thing.”
Moody noted that only 18% of people in the U.S. who need vision correction are wearing contact lenses.
“As I look at the future, I’m thinking about how we can take that to the next level,” he said. “We have to provide a product that does something better than what our spectacles are doing.” – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS
Reference:
Morris S, et al. State of the contact lens industry in 2017: Things to come ... R&D and developing technologies. Presented at: Vision Expo East, New York. March 30-April 2, 2017.
Disclosures: Grobe is employed by Bausch + Lomb. Keir is employed by CooperVision. McCray is employed by Tangible Science. Moody is employed by Johnson & Johnson Vision Care. Morris is a consultant, lecturer or conducts research for or has a financial interest in Alcon, Allergan, Bausch + Lomb and ComSquared Technologies. White is employed by Synergeyes. Yao is employed by Alcon.