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• Alcon’s IQ PanOptix Trifocal IOL has been implanted more than one million times worldwide, spurring the company to create the “One Million Moments — Thank You” ad campaign that recognizes the positive impact eye care providers have made on those patients implanted with the IOL.
• Amferia AB was granted a foundational patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its material that uses covalent binding between antimicrobial peptides and an amphiphilic hydrogel to form a solid antimicrobial hydrogel material. The material exerts an antibacterial effect upon direct contact with bacteria, without leaching or release of any antimicrobials into the environment around the material, Amferia AB says. The company says it is in the final stages of product creation for wound care applications. The patent number is US 11235021.
• Avellino Lab USA named Genya Dana, PhD, as global head of health policy for the company. Dr. Dana previously served as the head of health care at the World Economic Forum, where she oversaw an international team focused on creating multi-stakeholder health care partnerships, including initiatives in precision medicine, women’s and girls’ health, health equity, and pandemic forecasting and response.
• AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc announced it created a rapid quantitative tear test for MMP-9, an inflammatory biomarker for dry eye disease. “The availability of quantitative tear MMP-9 testing would be a significant advance in our ability to measure the degree of inflammation affecting our dry eye patients, allowing for more objective classification of their disease,” said Dr. Joseph Tauber, AXIM’s chief medical officer, in a press release. “Equally important would be the ability to measure improvement in control of inflammation that is the goal of many of our therapies for ocular surface disease, including pharmaceuticals, thermal pulsation treatments, and even light-based therapies.”
• Graybug Vision, Inc recently acquired RainBIO, which created a gene therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis type 1 (MPS1), an inherited lysosomal storage disorder that has a high prevalence of corneal clouding. The company’s adeno-associated virus vector (AAV) gene therapy, called GB-501, has received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA and the company is preparing for phase 1/2a trials.
• Johnson & Johnson Vision was recognized as the winner of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards in the Wellness category for the company’s Acuvue Theravision with Ketotifen, a drug-eluting contact lens intended for patients suffering from ocular itch due to allergic conjunctivitis. Each of the daily disposable contact lenses contains 19 mcg of ketotifen, an antihistamine. The World Changing Ideas Awards honor products, concepts, companies, policies, and designs that are pursuing innovation for the good of society and the planet, reported the press release. For more information on the drug-eluting contact lens, visit acuvuetheravision.com .
• Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its commercial portfolio and related intellectual property assets to Alcon Inc. This includes Eysuvis, FDA-approved for the short-term (up to two weeks) treatment of the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease, and Inveltys, a b.i.d. corticosteroid for the treatment of postoperative inflammation and pain following ocular surgery.
• Lumibird Medical launched the Capsulo Nd:YAG laser, which provides efficient and accurate capsulotomy and iridotomy treatments, using optics that deliver clarity of view into the anterior and posterior segments of the eye and illumination with a variable-height light tower that provides dual illumination angles of 16° and 7.5° for anterior and posterior laser applications, the company said. The laser can be paired with Quantel Medical’s Vitra 2 MultiSpot photocoagulating laser to combine panretinal photo-coagulation functionality, Lumbird said.
• Ocuphire Pharma, Inc named Jay Pepose, MD, PhD, its chief medical advisor. Dr. Pepose has served on Ocuphire’s medical advisory board since 2018 and on the board of directors since 2021. He is the founder and medical director of the Pepose Vision Institute in the St. Louis area; a professor of clinical ophthalmology and visual sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; and a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
• OptiLight, from Lumenis, received the MedTech Breakthrough Award for Best New Technology Solution for Ophthalmology. There were more than 3,900 nominations from 15 countries, according to the press release.
• Orasis Pharmaceuticals appointed Teresa “Tes” Ignacio, MD, as vice president of medical affairs. Dr. Ignacio, a fellowship-trained ophthalmologist, brings over a decade of experience in research and development, clinical practice, and medical affairs, according to the press release. She trained as a cornea and refractive research fellow at the University of California Irvine, and completed her ophthalmology residency at Makati Medical Center in the Philippines. In other news, Orasis announced the completion of its NEAR-1 and NEAR-2 phase 3 clinical studies, which evaluated the efficacy and safety of CSF-1, the company’s eye drop candidate for the treatment of presbyopia.
• Salvat has successfully concluded phase 3 clinical trials of its ocular corticosteroid eye drop treatment for inflammation and pain in cataract surgery patients. The Spanish pharmaceutical company said it has begun the approval application procedures for clobetasol propionate ophthalmic nanoemulsion 0.05% with the FDA as well as with European health authorities, and hopes to launch the corticosteroid worldwide in the second half of 2023.
• SIFI S.p.A. announced that the FDA approved the company’s Orphan Drug Designation application for its investigational anti-infective polymer polihexanide for the treatment of fungal keratitis. Polihexanide had previously been designated by the FDA and the European Medicines Agency as an orphan drug appropriate for treatment of Acanthamoeba keratitis.
• STAAR Surgical received FDA approval in March 2022 for its EVO/EVO+ Visian Implantable Collamer Lens for the correction of myopia (EVO) and myopia with astigmatism (EVO+). The product offers a lens-based alternative for the correction/reduction of refractive error in patients between the ages of 21 and 45, the company said. EVO lenses are implanted within the eye’s posterior chamber directly behind the iris and in front of the natural crystalline lens. STAAR said it is training and certifying surgeons to implant EVO lenses and will begin a national marketing campaign to support the product. CP