CONTACT LENSES TODAY

October 24, 2004

Contact Lenses Today® is edited by Dr. Joseph T. Barr and the staff of Contact Lens Spectrum. This week, CLToday^® reaches more than 10,000 readers in 74 countries.

Cooper Uncovers Counterfeit CLs in United States
After battling counterfeit product problems in Europe in February 2004, CooperVision now faces a new discovery: Counterfeit Proclear Compatibles in the U.S. market. The company became aware of the problem after two patients complained to CooperVision about the quality of their Proclear Compatibles lenses. One of the patients returned the suspect lenses to the company and subsequent analysis determined they were counterfeit. CooperVision believes the product to have come from 1-800 Contacts and both CooperVision and 1-800 are working with the FDA to monitor and correct the situation. For more information on this situation, check out CooperVision's press release: http://www.coopervision.com/us/patient_aboutus_news.asp?id=22.

Journal Recaps Topics Covered at World Summit on CRT
A special October 2004 issue of Eye & Contact Lens: Science and Clinical Practice published the proceedings of a symposium entitled "Corneal Refractive Therapy: Challenges, Controversies and New Opportunities" from a World Summit Symposium on Corneal Refractive Therapy that took place April 29 to May 1 2004 in Florida. Topics included case studies, research in the effects of CRT on corneal physiology, histology studies, wavefront analysis of the effects of CRT, overnight risks, a quality of life study on CRT vs. two-week soft disposable lenses and more.

Lens of Choice for All Patient Types, Practitioners Report
In a recent survey, Eye Care Professionals who participated in a market test reported that ACUVUE^® ADVANCE^TM Brand Contact Lenses with HYDRACLEAR^TM is their first choice when fitting new, current and former lens wearers of all ages:
- 87% select the lens over other brands when fitting contact lens wearers with comfort concerns.
- 82% choose it as the best brand for lapsed contact lens wearers.
- 63% say it is their top choice for new teen contact lens wearers.
- 71% consider ACUVUE^® ADVANCE^TM with HYDRACLEAR^TM their preferred brand for new adult contact lens wearers.
Offer all your patients long lasting comfort with ACUVUE^® ADVANCE^TM with HYDRACLEAR^TM. http://www.ecp.acuvue.com
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B&L Introduces Aberration-Free Aspheric IOL
At the 2004 Joint Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the European Society of Ophthalmolgy, Bausch & Lomb unveiled its SofPort Advanced Optics intraocular lens (IOL), which the company says is an aspheric IOL that has been specifically designed with no spherical aberration so it won’t contribute to any pre-existing higher-order aberrations. The SofPort AO is built on the same platform as the predecessor SofPort SE IOL and, according to B&L, is a foldable silicone IOL with PMMA haptics and square edges. To learn more about this lens, visit http://www.bausch.com

Animal Experiments Give Hope to Gene Therapy for Glaucoma
On the online issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Dr. Nils Loewen and colleagues report on their research to address a problem impeding research into glaucoma-associated genetic mutations and glaucoma gene therapy and achieve permanent, targeted transgene expression in the trabecular meshwork. They injected viral vectors carrying marker genes into the eye chamber of 19 cats and found that a single injection of the gene persisted in the targeted tissue for at least 10 months. The researchers believe that their studies provide "a basis for developing realistic disease models and administering glaucoma gene therapy."

CIBA Sweepstakes Encourages Annual Supply Purchases
This month, CIBA Vision kicked off its "All The Year's Best" promotion in North America. The promotion invites U.S. consumers to enter a sweepstakes (at http://www.alltheyearsbest.com). CIBA will select one grand prize winner in December 2004 and a second grand prize winner in April 2005. Other sweepstakes winners will receive iPod mini digital music players. CIBA will award a single Canadian grand prize winner and his/her eyecare practitioner a vacation for four to Travel and Leisure magazine's "Year's Best Resort" in the Caribbean. Patients will learn about the sweepstakes in advertisements that will appear in People magazine in November 2004 and in January 2005, and on promotional displays in practitioners' offices.

Abstract: Reviewing the Feasibility of Delivering Drugs Through CLs
In evaluating in vivo the usefulness of molecular imprinting technology to obtain therapeutic soft contact lenses capable of prolonging the permanence of timolol in the precorneal area compared to conventional contact lenses and eye drops, researchers prepared soft contact lenses (with a 14mm diameter and a 0.08mm center thickness consisting of N,N-diethylacrylamide, methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol) by the conventional methodology (nonimprinted) or by applying a molecular imprinting technique using timolol as the template (imprinted ones). After washing and reloading, timolol release studies carried out in rabbits showed that the soft contact lenses made by the molecular imprinting method (34°1 4g dose) provided measurable timolol concentrations in the tear fluid for 2.0- and 3.0-fold longer than the nonimprinted contact lenses (21°1 4g dose) and eyedrops (doses of 34 and 125°1 4g), respectively. The researchers concluded that their study results indicate that imprinted soft contact lenses are promising drug devices able to provide greater and more sustained drug concentrations in tear fluid with lower doses than conventional eye drops.
Hiratani H, Fujiwara A, Tamiya Y, Mizutani Y, Alvarez-Lorenzo C. Ocular Release of Timolol From Molecularly Imprinted Soft Contact Lenses. Biomaterials 2005 Apr;26(11):1293-1298.

Editor's Commentary: Thoughts on GP Lenses
Our Fitting Tip this week recommends GP lenses for kids. This is logical. In December, there will be a major publication in myopia control with GP lenses by Jeff Walline. We don't know the message yet. Are GP lenses generally safe? Yes. Are they underused? Yes. Do we wish the CLMA a successful meeting this week? Absolutely.
Think about GP lenses for your young astigmats, your presbyopes and your college students. Seems they could work for so many more patients than those for whom they're prescribed.

Fitting Tip: Reply to Last Week's Tip on Young CL Wearers
I would like to remind your readers of the third choice -- the healthier, long-term choice -- for children needing vision correction. Though daily disposables and silicone hydrogels are "healthier" choices than traditional soft contact lens wear, I believe they still don't compare to the long-term corneal health of GP contact lenses. And with the apparent trend of all past studies on the progression of myopia, no soft lens product compares to the benefit of GPs. Being that this young age of children represent the most formative years of myopia, it seems prudent to always suggest the option of GP lenses for the correction of any astigmatic young patient
--Keith Parker
Past President of the Contact Lens Manufacturers Association

Report adverse contact lens reactions here: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/ or call (800) FDA-1088.

Access a reporting form for complications you've seen that were a result of contact lenses dispensed without a valid prescription at the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry's (ARBO's) Web site: http://www.arbo.org/arbo.asp?dt=R&doc=Complications. Complete and send the form online or print it out and fax it to (866) 886-6164.

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