Last week, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care received FDA approval for its drug-eluting contact lenses, which add the antihistamine ketotifen to its Acuvue contact lenses to treat allergic eye itching in contact wearers . The Jacksonville, Fla., division, a division of Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices, created the single-use contact lens, which provides medication for itchy eyes while correcting vision, called Acuvue Theravision with Ketotifen .
About 40% of contact lens wearers report itchy eyes from allergies, according to Press Releases. The newly approved lenses relieve itchy eyes in 3 minutes for up to 12 hours, but the lenses themselves can be worn for longer to correct vision. FDA approval comes after Phase 3 trial results were published cornea Verify the efficacy of the lens. The company claims that Acuvue Theravision is a completely new contact lens with Ketotifen because it combines vision correction and active drug therapy to relieve allergies.
Until now, the standard of care for people with itchy eyes due to seasonal and perennial allergens has been eye drops. However, Brian Parr, director of clinical science at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, said in an email interview that more than half of eye drop users generally complained that the drops didn’t work well. Itchy eyes can also affect contact lens wearers, who may wear glasses if they don’t get the relief they need from eye allergies.
“Acuvue Theravision with Ketotifen is the world’s first and only drug-eluting contact lens for the relief of common seasonal allergens (like tree or grass pollen) as well as other perennial allergens (like pet dander or household dust) Itchy eyes,” Pall said. “Companies have spent 60 years trying to develop drug-releasing contact lenses. The idea of drug-releasing contact lenses was documented in some original soft contact lens patents in the early 1960s. Since then, hundreds of papers have been published by academic and independent researchers manuscript, documenting their attempts to incorporate drugs into contact lenses. So far, no one has been able to successfully develop and commercialize drug-eluting contact lenses.”
Drug-led combination products will be available on a doctor’s prescription. The company currently declined to comment on the price of the product in the U.S. market.[Pallrefuses[palldeclinedto[頗爾拒絕[palldeclinedto
“Johnson & Johnson Vision Care scientists have spent more than a decade finding the right combination of drug and lens material, infusing the drug without damaging vision, and achieving a combination that is safe and clinically proven to be effective,” Pall added. “This FDA approval marks another important milestone for J&J Vision in rethinking what’s possible with contact lenses and proposing innovations to better meet the vision and eye health needs of people around the world.”
Photo: Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
