- Eaglet Eye announced the newest addition to its team, Sheila Morrison, OD, who has joined as a scientific and clinical affairs consultant. While collaborating with Eaglet Eye part-time, Dr. Morrison will continue her primary role at Mission Eye Care in Calgary, Canada.
- Orasis Pharmaceuticals announced that the FDA has approved QLOSI (pilocarpine hydrochloride ophthalmic solution) 0.4% for the treatment of presbyopia in adults. QLOSI is expected to be commercially available in the U.S. in the first half of 2024. Orasis Pharmaceuticals notes that QLOSI improves near visual acuity by pupil modulation, resulting in a “pinhole effect” and an increase in the depth of field, thus increasing the ability to focus on near objects.
- CooperVision, in partnership with the American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF), has awarded 10 Fellows or candidates of Fellowship with a cumulative $15,000 in travel grants to attend Academy 2023. These grants enabled individuals needing financial assistance to travel to this year’s meeting in New Orleans. Recipients of the first-ever travel grants were given to individuals from countries including Ghana, India, Nigeria, Nepal, Malawi, and Pakistan.
- BostonSight announced a licensing partnership with Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in the U.K. Under the agreement, Moorfields will manufacture and distribute BostonSight Scleral lenses in the U.K. through the National Health Service. BostonSight and Moorfields will also collaborate on educational initiatives, for both patients and practitioners, to increase awareness of the benefits of scleral lenses and the conditions they treat.
- Lentechs announced the closing of successful fundraising to further key development objectives for its investigational contact lens called APIOC for patients who have presbyopia. The round was led by Vision Vestments LLC, with additional significant investments from JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund, Ohio Innovation Fund, Bluestem Capital, and Rev1 Ventures.
- Valley Contax Inc., in partnership with Contamac U.S., announced the travel grant winner to attend the 2024 Global Specialty Lens Symposiumin Las Vegas. The award went to Riley Parker, a third-year Michigan College of Optometry student who submitted a story about a double corneal transplant patient who was defeated and frustrated. They fit the patient in scleral lenses, giving him back his sight, which changed his entire outlook and allowed him to see his granddaughter for the first time since she was born.In other news, Valley Contax introduced Sheila Morrison, OD, as the latest addition to the “Try Not To Blink” podcast hosting team, joining Roya Habibi, OD. View episodes on your favorite podcast app or visit TryNot2Blink.com .
- Art Optical Contact Lens Inc., in partnership with Contamac, recently awarded $750 Specialty Contact Lens Travel Grants to cornea and contact lens residents Vanessa Lin, OD, MS, and Dariela Cardo, OD. Dr. Lin was awarded her travel grant at the recent American Academy of Optometry meeting in New Orleans where she presented a poster titled “Management of Post-Refractive Oblate Corneal Shape and Myopic Regression with a Novel Custom-Soft Dual Base Curve Design.” Dr. Cardo was awarded her travel grant at the Vision by Design Meeting in Chicago where she presented a poster she co-authored with Nicholas Gidosh, OD, titled: “Optimizing Orthokeratology: Harnessing Eccentricity and Empirical Design for Myopic Astigmatic Patients.”
- The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) welcomed 257 new Fellows, and 12 current Fellows earned Diplomate. AAO Fellows must submit written works for peer review that demonstrate their skills as an optometrist or vision scientist. Additionally, they must sit for an oral exam during the annual meeting. Currently, Diplomate programs are offered in anterior segment; pediatric optometry; comprehensive eye care; cornea, contact lenses & refractive technologies; glaucoma; low vision; optometric education; public health & environmental vision; and vision science. The full list of Fellows and Diplomates can be found at: aaopt.org/about-us/news/#toggle-id-1 .In other news, The AAO and the AAO Foundation announced the recipients of the 2023 Student and Resident Travel Fellowship awards. These $750 travel fellowships supported attendance among student and resident members of the Academy at Academy 2023 New Orleans in October. View a full list at aaopt.org/about-us/news/#2023-stf-rtf .
- Harrow announced the completion of the transfer to Harrow of the New Drug Applications (NDAs) for the following products: Flarex (fluorometholone acetate ophthalmic suspension) 0.1%, Natacyn (natamycin ophthalmic suspension) 5%, Tobradex ST (tobramycin and dexamethasone ophthalmic suspension) 0.3%/0.05%, Verkazia (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion) 0.1%, and Zerviate (cetirizine ophthalmic solution) 0.24%.
- CooperVision’s contact lens manufacturing facility in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico has been elevated to the LEED Gold certification. The 540,000-square-foot site—which first earned LEED Silver certification in 2020 for its environmentally conscious design and operation—produces the company’s MyDay and Biofinity brands. It is the second CooperVision manufacturing facility to achieve LEED Gold certification, joining the company’s Costa Rica plant, which earned this recognition in 2022.
- Optometry Giving Sight has announced the addition of Daniel McBride, executive vice president and COO of CooperCompanies, and Meng Meng Xu, OD, MPH, to its board of directors. Previously, Mr. McBride served as president of CooperVision from 2014 through 2021. His prior roles at CooperVision also include chief risk officer, general counsel, vice president, and senior counsel. Before joining CooperVision in 2005, he was an attorney with Latham & Watkins LLP. Dr. Xu is an associate professor of clinical optometry and the director of eyecare services at South Boston Community Health Center. She also serves as coordinator of international programs at the New England College of Optometry, a role she has held for 10 years.
- The Centre for Ocular Research & Education (CORE) has published a series of infographics in 25 diverse languages that encourage responsible contact lens recycling and disposal. The initiative resulted from widespread positive feedback about four English-only versions released earlier this year. The series is now available for download at contactlensupdate.com/2023/10/31/contact-lens-sustainability-infographics . Languages now include Afrikaans, Arabic, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, and Vietnamese. CORE plans to distribute additional languages over the coming months.
- 1-800 Contacts announced the launch of SeekWell, a parent company focused on making vision care simple, affordable, and accessible. SeekWell, which was developed internally, will serve as the umbrella corporation for its flagship brand 1-800 Contacts, as well as Hello Eyes and Luna. The move to a parent brand will allow each company to preserve its unique identity and purpose while allowing for growth in the larger industry of vision care.
- Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) has announced that Sarah Burtner, MA, has joined its staff as director of communications. In the role, Ms. Burtner is responsible for directing, implementing, and managing the flow of communication and information between OGS and various global audiences, including the ophthalmic press, optometric profession, ophthalmic industry, patients, and practices. She will work closely with staff in the U.S. and Canada offices to manage communications for all OGS programs, events, and campaigns. She comes to OGS from the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International, where she most recently served as director of the APCO Institute, the training division of APCO.
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FDA BRIEFS
• FDA ESTABLISHES NEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON DIGITAL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the creation of a new digital health Aadvisory committee to help the agency explore the complex, scientific, and technical issues related to digital health technologies (DHTs), such as artificial intelligence/machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, digital therapeutics, wearables, remote patient monitoring, and software.
The FDA Digital Health Advisory Committee will advise the agency on issues related to DHTs, providing relevant expertise and perspective to help improve the agency’s understanding of the benefits, risks, and clinical outcomes associated with the use of DHTs. The committee should be fully operational in 2024.
To support the development of safe and effective DHTs while also encouraging innovation, the FDA will solicit views from the committee, which will consist of individuals who have technical and scientific expertise from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. This will help ensure digital health medical devices are designed and targeted to meet the needs of diverse populations.
The committee will consist of a core of nine voting members including the chair. The number of temporary members selected for a particular meeting will depend on the meeting topic.
Those interested in serving or nominating a representative to serve as a voting or non-voting member of the FDA Digital Health Advisory Committee may either submit nominations electronically by accessing the FDA Advisory Committee Membership Nomination Portal (bit.ly/3SuUIOX ) or by mail.
• FDA ISSUES CONSUMER WARNING ABOUT EYE DROPS
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a statement warning consumers not to purchase and to immediately stop using several over-the-counter eye drop products due to the potential risk of eye infections that could result in partial vision loss or blindness. Patients who have signs or symptoms of an eye infection after using these products should talk to their health care provider or seek medical care immediately. These products are marketed under the following brands: CVS Health, Leader (Cardinal Health), Rugby (Cardinal Health), Rite Aid, Target Up & Up, Velocity Pharma, and Equate (Walmart). View a complete list at bit.ly/49ivsl3 .
The FDA recommended the manufacturer of these products recall all lots on Oct. 25, 2023, after agency investigators found insanitary conditions in the manufacturing facility and positive bacterial test results from environmental sampling of critical drug production areas in the facility. The FDA has not received any adverse event reports of eye infection associated with these products at this time.
GSLS 2024 PHOTO CONTEST
• THE GLOBAL SPECIALTY LENS SYMPOSIUM (GSLS) is seeking interesting photographs of conditions, diseases, or other occurrences from your clinical practice, with a special interest in contact lenses and the anterior segment. All submissions must be sent through the online portal. Three winning photos will be selected by the GSLS planning committee and be featured in a future issue of Contact Lens Spectrum. Submit your entry no later than Dec. 31 at photos.gslsymposium.com/upload/upload.aspx .
