Visioneering Technologies Inc. (VTI), a startup company with a new technology for correcting presbyopia through contact lenses and other on eye/in eye applications has raised nearly $5 million to date, according to the company, and has added investment partners to fund completion of its clinical trials.
     VTI's unique patented approach to vision correction utilizes induced aperture optics to improve the optical efficiency of the eye's vision system. The technology has a number of on eye and in eye applications including contact lenses, LASIK, intraocular lenses and corneal inlays.
     According to Joe DeLapp, VTI's President and CEO, "VTI's initial play into the marketplace will be the contact lens category, where solutions for presbyopia correction have fallen short of consumer expectations. With the aging demographics of the population, VTI's solution for presbyopia provides an enormous market opportunity."  Sally Dillehay, OD, VTI's Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, notes that "clinical results to date indicate that Visioneering's patented technology may provide an outstanding solution to delivering the benefits of near and distance vision to presbyopes. VTI's solutions are designed to revolutionize the underdeveloped presbyopia segment by offering a new approach to uncompromised visual acuity and sharper depth of focus, especially in low light such as night driving."
     VTI was founded in 2004 by Dr. Richard A. Griffin, an optometrist, optical engineer and aerospace engineer, who spent 20 years developing VTI's technology. Dr. Griffin holds two issued patents for his unique optical solutions for presbyopia.

LensAlert recently launched a PR campaign designed to make contact lens wearers more aware of the potential problems that may occur when contact lens cases are not replaced on a regular basis. According to the company, its communication plan will unfold over the next 90 days during which the company hopes to reach millions of contact lens wearers starting with a simple message about contact lens cases.
"We think that dirty contact lens cases are the culprit for many problems. If we focus on this one issue, we can make a difference," said John O'Hara, President of LensAlert. The company manufactures the LensAlert Contact Lens and Case Timer which keeps track of the patients contact lens replacement schedule and lets the patient know when to replace the contact lens case as well. The patient simply sets the timers according to the eyecare practitioner's direction, and when the display flashes "0" its time for a change. Visit www.lensalert.com for more information.

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Optometry's Charity, the AOA Foundation's Endowment Fund Advisory Committee recently completed their judging and selected five third-year optometry students as the 2009 Scholarship Grant recipients. The charity sponsors an annual essay contest for three separate and distinct national scholarship programs.  
     This year's winners included:

• Jacoby Dewald from Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry who was selected for the $2,500 Dr. Seymour Galina Grant.
• Jessica Unruh from University of Houston College of Optometry who was selected as the national winner of the $5,000 InfantSEE Scholarship Grant. Chad Anderson from Pacific University College of Optometry was chosen as the runner up and will receive $2,500.
• David Barnhart from Ohio State University College of Optometry who was chosen as the national winner for the Healthy Eyes Healthy People Scholarship Grant and awarded $5,000. The runner up, Brian Moore from Indiana University School of Optometry, will receive $2,500.

Each accredited school or college of optometry was invited to submit one nominee for each scholarship topic. The submissions were evaluated and grant recipients were chosen by Optometry's Charity Endowment Fund Advisory Committee.

This year, Contact Lens Spectrum (CLS) is working with Eurolens Research in conducting a survey to investigate the current state of contact lens prescribing in the United States. Details can be found in the February 15, 2009 issue of Contact Lenses Today.  
     To download the form, please visit www.cltoday.com/USsurvey2009.doc. After clicking the link you will be prompted to Open or Save the document. Please save the document to your computer. Later, you can fill in your data and save the information at your convenience. We are requesting data on only 10 contact lens patients.
     Please remember that completed survey forms should be emailed to Lisa Starcher at lisa.starcher@wolterskluwer.com or faxed to 215 827-5390 no later than May 15, 2009. Thank you for your assistance with this important work. If you have any questions, please call Lisa Starcher at 215 367-2168.  

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced an exclusive agreement with Professors Markus Nagl, MD and Waldemar Gottardi, PhD, of the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, intended to advance the development of NovaBay's Aganocide compounds by integrating extensive and on-going clinical work at the university with NovaBay's development program.
     The professors' work has pioneered the exploratory use of NCT (N-chlorotaurine) compounds in humans in a number of indications that overlap with and even go beyond those for which NovaBay's Aganocide compounds are currently being developed. Under the terms of the agreement, in return for funding, NovaBay will have access to past and future data generated in human clinical trials by Professors Nagl, Gottardi and their collaborators. These data are expected to support many of the indications being pursued by NovaBay and its partners.
     Alcon is the company's licensee for the use of Aganocide compounds in the treatment of eye, ear, and sinus infections. For more information on NovaBay, visit www.novabaypharma.com

International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood Phase Three was a cross-sectional survey performed 5-10 years after Phase One using the same methodology.
     The average overall prevalence of current rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms was 14.6% for the 13- to 14-year old children (range 1.0-45%). Variation in the prevalence of severe rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms was observed between centers (range 0.0-5.1%) and regions (range 0.4% in western Europe to 2.3% in Africa), with the highest prevalence being observed mainly in the centers from middle and low income countries, particularly in Africa and Latin America. Co-morbidity with asthma and eczema varied from 1.6% in the Indian sub-continent to 4.7% in North America. For 6- to 7-year old children, the average prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms was 8.5%, and large variations in symptom prevalence were also observed between regions, countries and centers.
     Researchers concluded that wide global variations exist in the prevalence of current rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms, being higher in high vs. low income countries, but the prevalence of severe symptoms was greater in less affluent countries. Co-morbidity with asthma is high particularly in Africa, North America and Oceania. This global map of symptom prevalence is of clinical importance for health professionals.
Ait-Khaled N, Pearce N, Anderson HR, Ellwood P, Montefort S, Shah J. Global map of the prevalence of symptoms of rhinoconjunctivitis in children: The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Three. Allergy 2009;64:123-48.

Allergy season is most certainly upon us and it is obviously important that we consider this in the care of our contact lens patients. From my own anecdotal experience, it seems as though many patients that have problems with allergies (with rhinoconjunctivitis) also have reactive airways and/or asthma, and the abstract this week provides evidence of the co-morbidity of these conditions. There are many options for our contact lens wearers with allergies including education, emphasis on contact lens care, frequent replacement modalities such as daily disposables, and medications. Make sure you and your staff keep each of these in mind.
Jason J. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO

This month at www.siliconehydrogels.org: incorporating Acanthamoeba testing into the MPDS licensing process; prescribing silicone hydrogels for post-RK patients; variability in corneal swelling with different silicone hydrogel lenses; and part 2 of our 2008 BCLA update.