REPOST: Novartis-Google team on lens for diabetes, vision issues

 Among the new technologies in eye care that is in development is the "smart contact lens". Read this article from USAtoday.com for more details.

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Google is teaming up with pharmaceutical giant Novartis to develop a "smart" contact lens intended to replace reading glasses for people who can't read without them and glucose monitors for those with diabetes.

For people with vision problems, the device would work like the autofocus of a camera, allowing them to focus on close-up things like the words in a book. It will be designed to work as a contact lens that is changed out regularly, or as an intra-ocular lens, permanently inserted into the eye during cataract surgery.

For diabetics, the lenses would replace regular finger sticks designed to read out a person's blood glucose level. Instead, the lens will "read" glucose levels in tears, sending information wirelessly to a handheld device that will warn patients when they need to eat or lower their glucose levels.

"These are issues that have been unmet medical needs for quite some time," said Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez.

Novartis' eye-care division Alcon, based in Texas, inked the deal today to do the development work, along with Google X, an innovation lab at the information company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, which had previously announced plans to make "smart" contacts.

Jimenez, said he hopes the contact will be the first of many technologies the two companies develop together.

"It was very clear that there could be a very nice synergistic value between bringing high tech together with biology to solve some of the biggest health care issues that we're facing," Jimenez said.

The work is still preliminary, he said, with testing in people expected to begin next year. It will be a few years before the lens can be considered for regulatory approval and reach customers.

He said a price had not been decided for the lenses, and would not disclose how much the two companies will be investing in the project other than to say that it will be "commensurate with the business opportunity."

More than 1.7 billion people worldwide have presbyopia, the medical term for eyes that lose their ability to focus up-close with age, and more than 380 million have diabetes, he said.

Diabetes experts said they see two potential problems with glucose-monitoring lenses.

First, it's not clear whether glucose in tears, which the device would measure, changes in sync with the glucose in blood.

"There are no available data to show any reliability of this sensor," said Robert Ratner, chief scientific and medical Officer of the American Diabetes Association. "Is this going to be a situation where you have to change the contact once a day, once a week or once an hour? All of these are unknowns."

Second, diabetics are most at risk for crashing blood sugar levels at night while they're sleeping. But that's also when most people take out their contacts.

"Any type of contact device is going to need to be something that can be worn overnight if it's going to be able to realize the benefits people need, which is to get warning alarms when their glucoses are going out of range overnight," said Howard Wolpert, director of the Joslin Institute for Technology Translation at the Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

For aging eyes, there are also many other alternatives to the contacts, from glasses to low-tech contacts to LASIK surgery, said Kerry Assil, an ophthalmic surgeon in Los Angeles.

But still, he said, if the "smart" contacts can be made to work, it would be a boon to patients. "Any new thing that can provide people with a slightly enhanced visual clarity, reduced side effects and so forth, tremendously elevates their sense of well being and their sense of confidence."

Dr. Hitesh K. Patel is an Edison-based opthalmologist and founder of the Patel Eye Associates. Follow this Twitter account to learn more about the latest trends in eye care.

Contact lenses now, corneal abrasions later

Apart from being fashion staples, contact lenses have been accepted by ophthalmologists and eye patients alike as a viable alternative to eye glasses. As a matter of fact, more patients are beginning to prefer contact lenses over glasses and as of 2011, there were approximately 36 million Americans using contact lenses to compensate for refractive errors.

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While advantageous in a myriad of ways, contact lenses are not without some downsides. One of the greatest problems that contact lens users may have to contend with is the risk for corneal abrasions.

Cornea: The eye’s fine window

The cornea is “a transparent, dome-shaped window covering the front of the eye.” It is an important anatomical structure which makes for a powerful refracting surface, and provides approximately 2/3 of the eye’s focusing power.

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Inasmuch as it is the eye’s frontline protective structure, it is as fragile as any mucosal membrane; perhaps more so, owing to its fineness. This is why even the tiniest particles like dirt, dust, sand, and wood shaving can superficially scratch the cornea, resulting to abrasions.

This condition may be worse for contact lens wearers. A 2004 study by Quinn and Kwartz stated that “contact lenses can compromise the corneal epithelium,” making it more susceptible to cuts and tears. To make matters worse, contact lenses can also act as “pathogenic vectors,” and may take part in facilitating the development of bacterial keratitis. Quinn and Kwartz observed that contact lens wearers may be at risk for a rapid-progression corneal scarring, and if worst comes to worst, corneal perforation.

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The rise in contact lens use is largely due to its convenience, but because of its accompanying risks, users are reminded to observe commensurate care, as corneal abrasions may be a hefty price to pay for even a measly lack of caution in usage.

Dr. Hitesh K. Patel is an Edison-based ophthalmologist. This Facebook page provides helpful information on the prevention and treatment of common eye problems.