NZ-designed contact lens slows myopia progression

Nicola Anstice, Melinda Calderwood and Dr John Phillips with patient Samantha Zhang who participated in the study

Designed by Dr John Phillips, a senior lecturer at DOVS, the lens, named MiSight, is the first soft contact lens in the world that’s available commercially to inhibit myopia progression. Manufactured by Coopervision it has recently been launched in Hong Kong, the hub of Asia.

Myopia has become a major public health issue in many parts of the world, with the incidence of myopia in children at over 80% in some Asian countries. Retinal degeneration associated with the abnormal elongation of the eye in myopia is already the major cause of blindness in these countries.

MiSight, a daily disposable contact lens, uses ActivControl Technology which results in a clear central foveal image, while the peripheral treatment zones of the lens create myopic retinal defocus that slows the rate at which the eye elongates and thus slows the progression of myopia.

Highly myopic himself, Dr Phillips has been working in myopia research for some time. Before studying optometry, he worked in animal physiology in the UK. Dr Phillips emigrated to NZ in 1998 and took up a position as lecturer with the DOVS.  He said it was satisfying to see the project evolve from the basic physiological principles governing eye growth to an idea that could be used to treat children with myopia.

“It’s retinal defocus that controls eye growth in developing animals, so we took that idea and used it to control the abnormal enlargement of the eye in children with myopia,” said Dr Phillips.

Research on the project commenced about 9 years ago with funding at various times coming from the Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust, NZOVRF and the Cornea & Contact Lens Society (CCLS).

In 2004 Dr Phillips filed a patent application related to this technology and soon afterwards optometrist Nicola Anstice began her PhD project, supervised by Dr Phillips, trialling the new ‘dual focus’ lens on Auckland school-children with myopia. The lenses used in the trial were all specially made by Corneal Lens Corporation in Christchurch.

“We conducted a clinical trial in which the experimental lens was worn in one eye and a standard single vision contact lens was worn in the other and compared the myopia progression  in the two eyes to see if it was slower in the experimental eye,” said Dr Phillips. “It was slower, so we swapped the lenses over at 10 months and the progression in the other eye then slowed down so by 20 months, progression in both eyes had been slowed. During each period we could see the eye wearing the experimental lens was progressing more slowly than the other one.”

The clinical data showed that the lens slowed the rate of myopia progression by one third or more in three-quarters of children studied, half of those wearing the lens had their myopia progression slowed by 50% or more.

Soon after Nicola’s presentation of her preliminary data at the 2007 CCLS conference in Queenstown, Dr Phillips received a phone call from contact lens manufacturer Coopervision expressing an interest in commercialising the lens.

Dr Phillips assigned the intellectual property to The University of Auckland’s UniServices who has licensed it to Coopervision who has proceeded with the commercial development of the lens. Dr Phillips has a revenue sharing agreement with UniServices for the royalties involved in the sales of the lens.

“UniServices is very proud to be involved in the development of a product which will have such a significant impact on so many people. As the largest commercialisation company in Australasia, and wholly owned by The University of Auckland, it is inventions like this which allow us to say we are the start of something big,” said Peter Lee, CEO, Auckland UniServices Ltd.

Coopervision has named the lens MiSight to signify the responsibility and ownership of contact lens wear and myopia control for young people. It’s recommended that MiSight is used as part of the Myopia Management System to proactively manage young myopes, or young people at risk of becoming myopic.

MiSight is made from the proven Coopervision Proclear (omafilcon A) material and is a daily disposable lens making it ideal for children – easy to take care of with no cleaning, disinfection or worrying about lost lenses. It is currently available in Hong Kong in powers of -0.25 to -6.00D.

Nicola has successfully completed her thesis and her PhD degree will be conferred in May 2010. Dr Phillips will be presenting the results of their clinical trial at overseas meetings this year, including ARVO, BCLA and the International Myopia Conference in Germany.

For Dr Phillips the process has gone a full circle and his interest in myopia development is very much an ongoing project.

“We have developed a system that slows the progression of myopia but we really need to know why so many children are becoming myopic, with a view to preventing it developing in the first place. This involves understanding the various biochemical pathways in the eye and what triggers them to cause abnormal eye growth in myopia.

“The next generation of research might well suggest that we should change lifestyle, particularly of children, to prevent myopia development. At the moment we have gone back to working with animal models, looking at the fundamental issues of light exposure and drugs that may act in the eye to prevent myopia development. We are also looking directly at the effect of outdoor light exposure in children and whether this might have a beneficial effect, as has been suggested by a recent Australian study,” he said.

Under Dr Phillip’s leadership the Myopia Laboratory has developed a comprehensive portfolio of research said Professor Paul Donaldson, Head of the DOVS.

“This includes the genetic and epidemiological basis of myopia, functional and structure studies of myopia induction in experimental models and now clinical solutions to slow the rate of myopia,” he said. “John is one of only a few academics at the University of Auckland who has successfully translated their research into a commercial product, and should be congratulated on this personal milestone. He also needs to be commended for his ongoing mentorship of the young researchers in his group, since in the last two years, three optometry graduates have completed PhD projects under John’s supervision.  I am confident that these young people have a bright future in academic optometry in New Zealand.”

Coopervision decided to do a limited launch in Hong Kong to better understand the market and the communication tools practitioners require to talk to parents and children about myopia and myopia management.

MiSight is to be launched in other markets around the world including New Zealand, but no dates have yet been set.

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