Contact lenses as a drug delivery system take home MIT Sloan Healthcare prize

March 21, 2018 | by

This Editor has been covering contact lenses in health tech since at least 2013–contact lenses that detect glucose for diabetics (Google/Novartis/Alcon), eye pressure (Sensimed), and even detect multiple diseases (Oregon State University). None to date have made it into commercial release.

Here’s another try, this time from this year’s winner of the MIT Sloan Healthcare Innovation Prize competition. Theraoptix won the $25,000 grand prize, sponsored by Optum. The lenses are designed to deliver eye medication on a time release basis using a thin polymer film formed into a tiny circular strip sandwiched into the lens material. They can be worn for up to two weeks to slowly but constantly deliver drugs in the treatment of diseases like glaucoma or after surgery. It can also deliver drugs effectively for back of the eye treatment of macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, and similar diseases that today require in-office injections.

Theraoptix was developed by Lokendra Bengani Ph.D. of the Schepens Eye Research Institute of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. It was based on core technology by ophthalmologist Joseph B. Ciolino MD, who is Dr. Bengani’s mentor. We wrote about Dr. Ciolino’s research previously [TTA 7 Sept 16] including a look back at contact lens research. There were seven other finalists, of which the most interesting to this Editor was Kinematics shoe insole sensors for gait detection analysis (and fall prevention).  MIT News. 

Health tech overstatement of the day: ‘a contact lens that tells you when you’re sick’

April 5, 2017 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Lens.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]This Editor likes Gizmodo, and doesn’t want to seem overly cynical or critical, but here we go again with an article that gives the impression that biosensing contact lenses are just around the corner. Our Readers will recall Google’s much hyped glucose-sensing lens developed with Novartis/Alcon dating back to 2014 [TTA 27 Mar 15]. This research is out of Oregon State University and is testing a transparent biosensor which will detect glucose levels in tears. The biosensor contains a transparent sheet of IGZO (gallium zinc oxide) transistors and glucose oxidase, an enzyme that breaks down glucose. In breaking down the glucose, it causes the pH level to shift and generate a measurable change in the electrical current going through the IGZO transistors. The researchers project that 2,500 of these transistors could be embedded in the lens, enabling multiple sensors detecting multiple chemicals which could lead to disease detection.

Why raise the yellow flag? If the lenses are to be used for continuous monitoring or even short term, thick lenses (like the old hard plastic or gas-permeable) require a period of wear-in to get the cornea habituated to it, and even after, there is the hazard of corneal abrasion. Irritation is especially hazardous for diabetics, who have a greater likelihood of eye injury and also related vision problems. Animal testing of the current version is over a year away. They don’t yet have a way to power the lens sensors. Contact lenses with sensors for various problems (e.g. Sensimed’s lens for glaucoma intra-ocular pressure) and Samsung’s Gear Blink embedded camera have been prototyped for years and none have made it into commercial release. Cost is a major unanswered question. While the researchers are to be applauded for the approach and applying it to other chemicals detectable in the eye, disease-sensing contact lenses will take years to be commercially available, if ever, and the article largely makes them seem just around the corner. Thin films applied to the skin for vital signs monitoring seem so much more…wearable [TTA 3 Feb]. Research to be presented at the American Chemical Society‘s annual meeting today (4 April). Photo is artist’s depiction of lens, courtesy of OSU

Contact lenses for measuring eye pressure

July 31, 2013 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/1-s2.0-S1471489212001993-gr3.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]Swiss company Sensimed Triggerfish (a most un-Swiss name!) has developed a soft contact lens for long-term (up to 24 hours) active measurement of intra-ocular pressure, a key indicator of glaucoma. Within the lens are small gauges and a transmitter which sends an output signal to a larger antenna affixed to a bandage worn around the eye. This antenna is then cable-connected to a recorder. From the recorder, the data is downloaded to the practitioner’s computer via Bluetooth. In ‘restricted commercial stage’  in CE-mark countries; submitted for 510(k) review to FDA but not yet approved in the US. Short article in ApplySci Discoveries; remarkably detailed MedGadget interview with Sensimed’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. René Goedkoop; Acta Ophthalmologica abstract.  Website. Hat tip to our Contributing Editor and TANN Ireland Editor Toni Bunting.