Johnson & Johnson Vision pioneers in meeting eye health needs with first-in-class contact lens innovations
Contact lens solutions and innovation which focus on deep consumer insights, clinical science and technology are critical for eye health. As such, the opportunities are vast for the contact lens market, as many unmet clinical eye disease needs have yet to be resolved.
Johnson & Johnson Vision’s (J&J Vision) Vision Care Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) Head of Research and Development (R&D), Biten Kathrani said: “J&J Vision continues to make significant investments in science and innovation, and thereby bringing in the best in class products, which not only offer efficacy but also benefit and cater to the changing lifestyle of our consumers.
“We have significant investments across J&J Vision, and our R&D headquarters is based in Jacksonville, Florida, in the US.”
Biten is responsible for myopia global research and combination product global research. He leads J&J Vision’s largest public-private partnership programme in APAC, focusing on myopia management and the science of myopia, in partnership with the Singapore National Eye Centre. Biten also leads J&J Vision’s beauty cosmetic contact lenses global R&D.
Pioneers of first-in-class technologies
J&J Vision has always been a pioneer in solving unmet needs, said Biten, thereby opening opportunities for more consumers to embrace contact lenses.
“Back in 1987, J&J Vision launched the world’s first disposable contact lens under the ACUVUE® brand and created the disposable contact lens category.
“And in the early 2000s, we pioneered the cosmetic contact lens category with our ACUVUE® DEFINE® range of products.
“The most recent first-in-class pioneering technology products introduced are the ACUVUE® Theravision® and ACUVUE® OASYS with Transitions™.”
ACUVUE® Theravision® is the world’s first drug-eluting contact lens for eye allergies. Meanwhile, ACUVUE® OASYS with Transitions™ is the world’s first light management contact lens.
Big opportunities with rising eye complications
Contact lenses, said Biten, is an underpenetrated category with opportunities to provide superior efficacy, vision and comfort to meet the evolving lifestyles of those that need vision correction or eye health management.
“For example, by 2030, more than a billion children will require myopia management, and about two billion will require presbyopia correction.
“We need to help children at risk to delay onset or those with myopia slow progression and thereby preserve long term eyehealth. Most progression happens till the age of 18, so early intervention is key.
“We also see a rise in ageing-related eye complications. As they age, billions of people will suffer from diseases and complications such as cataracts and glaucoma.
“So, there will always be a big opportunity to resolve these unmet clinical needs, and there will be many innovations coming into the market for paediatric eyes, adult developed eyes, and ageing eyes.”
J&J Vision, he said, has some of the widest contact lens offerings for complex vision correction needs like astigmatism, multifocals and myopia management and will continue to deliver first in class innovations.
Delivering new solutions and innovative products
Biten also shared that several new contact lens technologies and innovations were in the pipeline.
“Our ACUVUE® OASYS daily disposable lens is a category-leading lens. And we have gone ahead and disrupted ourselves by recently launching the ACUVUE® OASYS MAX daily disposable lens.
The ACUVUE® OASYS MAX lens comes with two innovative technologies, the OptiBlue™ Light Filter and TearStable™ Technology, which offer MAX Comfort and MAX Clarity to serve the heavy digital use lifestyles.
“Another is the ACUVUE® Abiliti™ range of Myopia management solutions – we now have the Abiliti™ 1-Day soft therapeutic contact lenses available in Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
“Based on recently published 6-month efficacy data, the Abiliti™ 1-Day soft therapeutic lens has significantly higher efficacy than single vision lenses and has shown control axial length elongation by 0.105mm in 6 months.
“Our 3 year pivotal study is ongoing and we look forward to share longer term efficacy data when available.”
He added that J&J Vision also provides digital solutions for eye care professionals (ECPs) and consumers.
The MyACUVUE® app allows ECPs and consumers to connect, make appointments, and make purchases while the SeeAbiliti™ app will keep parents updated on their children’s lifestyles and myopia management. – The Health
