Towards Dropless Cataract Surgery: MEDILens, a Drug-eluting Intraocular Lens

VisusNano是一家医疗技术初创公司，正在开发一种药物洗脱眼内透镜，用于接受白内障手术的患者。通过改善患者的治疗效果，消除术后滴眼液的需要，我们的技术有可能在人类和兽医市场上彻底改变白内障手术。白内障，定义为眼睛内透镜的混浊，是全球最常见的致盲原因。唯一的治疗方法是手术，其主要风险是术后炎症，导致疼痛，如果不治疗，视力丧失。这可以通过大量滴眼液来预防。英国每年进行20000例家畜白内障手术。每一种都需要术后滴眼液，每天最多6次，持续3个月。通常，狗和猫的主人负担不起这种密集的治疗计划，所以动物没有手术，成为盲人。在英国，每年有超过40万例手术在人类身上进行。手术后护理需要每天滴注4次，持续一个月。如果病人不能自己滴药，家人被要求支持他们的年长亲属，增加了无偿护理的负担。不幸的是，家庭不能总是提供帮助，因此需要护士的支持，这给NHS带来了高昂的成本（每年5500万英镑），也给已经“瘫痪”的医院眼科服务带来了负担。MEDI透镜是一种可生物降解的透镜，可以将抗炎药物释放到眼睛中，从而无需滴眼液，而不会损害透镜的性能。创新受专利保护。Innovate UK的资金将使我们能够在动物身上测试MEDILens的安全性和有效性，以便在18个月内开发出兽医产品和人类市场的原型。我们计划在会议上展示我们的成果，并在高影响因子期刊上发表。MEDILens的增长机会和二级市场是巨大的。随着人口老龄化，IOL市场不断增长，MEDILens也可以很容易地进行修改，以加入其他药物来治疗不同的疾病。我们公司的成功在于我们多样化的技能组合。我们的团队在药物递送开发、眼科手术、临床试验和项目管理方面拥有专业知识。眼科医生和兽医眼科医生是团队不可或缺的一部分，并确保开发的产品适合其最终用户。

VisusNano is a medtech start-up company that is developing a drug-eluting intraocular lens, for use in patients undergoing cataract surgery. By improving patient outcomes, removing the need for eye drops after surgery, our technology has the potential to revolutionise cataract surgery in both the human and veterinary markets.Cataract, defined as opacification of the lens within the eye, is the commonest cause of blindness worldwide. The only cure is surgery and it main risk is postoperative inflammation that causes pain and, if left untreated, visual loss. This can be prevented with an intense administration of eye drops.20k domestic animal cataract operations are performed each year in the UK. Each requires postoperative drops up to 6 times per day for 3 months. Often dogs and cats owners cannot afford this intensive treatment schedule, so the animals do not have surgery and become blind.In the UK, more than 400k surgeries are performed each year in humans. After surgery care requires drop administration up to 4 times/day for a month. If patients cannot self-administer the drops, family is asked to support their older relatives, adding to the unpaid carer burden. Unfortunately families cannot always help, so nurse's support is needed at a high cost to the NHS (\>£55M/year) and burden for a hospital eye service that is already "on its knees".MEDILens is a biodegradable lens that can release anti-inflammatory drugs into the eye, obviating the need for eye drops without compromising the properties of the lens. The innovation is protected by patents.The Innovate UK funding would allow us to test the safety and efficacy of MEDILens on animals, so to develop a veterinary product and a prototype for the human market within 18 months. We are planning to present our results to conferences and publish them on high impact factor journals.With MEDILens growth opportunities and secondary markets are substantial. Not only the IOL market is growing because of the ageing population, but MEDILens can be easily modified to incorporate other drugs to treat different diseases.Our company's success lies in our diverse skill mix. Our team has expertise in drug delivery development, ophthalmic surgery, clinical trials and project management. An ophthalmologist and a veterinary ophthalmologist are integral to the team and ensure that the developed product is fit for their end-users.