Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Receives FDA Approval for ACUVUE® Theravision™ with Ketotifen, the World’s First Drug-Eluting Contact Lens for Allergic Eye Itch

On March 3, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson focusing on eye health, announced that the U.S. FDA has approved the market launch of a contact lens capable of treating eye allergies. The press release noted that this contact lens contains the antihistamine drug ketotifen, which can be released in the eye to alleviate symptoms associated with eye allergies. This entirely new design of contact lenses also represents an important breakthrough in ophthalmic drug delivery technology innovation.

With the aging of society, changes in people's lifestyle habits, and the increased use of electronic devices, the incidence of ophthalmic diseases is continuously rising. Currently, many drugs used to treat ophthalmic diseases are administered through eye drops. Although this method is convenient, it has certain limitations. Since the eyes constantly secrete tears that serve to lubricate and moisten, the retention time of drugs delivered via eye drops is not very long. Previous studies have shown that only 5% of the medication in eye drops reaches the tissue where it needs to take effect. This means that patients may need to administer eye drops multiple times a day, which not only causes inconvenience in their daily lives but also affects treatment outcomes if they forget to apply the drops.

Since the advent of contact lenses in the 1960s, they have become a focus of research for ocular drug delivery among scientists. Due to the prolonged wear time of contact lenses, the duration of drug retention in the eye is significantly extended, enhancing the drug's efficacy. Additionally, patients avoid the need for repeated treatments and the potential issue of reduced drug effectiveness caused by forgetting to apply eye drops.

Today, a daily disposable contact lens named Acuvue Theravision has been approved. It incorporates ketotifen, a common antihistamine medication, into the material used to make the contact lenses, allowing the drug to be released during wear. In several Phase 3 clinical studies, it demonstrated positive therapeutic effects—patients wearing the drug-releasing contact lenses experienced significant relief from eye itching just three minutes after putting them on, which was both clinically and statistically significant. This effect lasted for up to 12 hours.

We also look forward to this innovative technology benefiting more contact lens wearers, allowing their vision to be corrected while freeing them from the suffering of eye allergies.

References:

[1] Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Receives FDA Approval for ACUVUE® Theravision™ with Ketotifen - World's First and Only Drug-Eluting Contact Lens, Retrieved March 2, 2022, from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/johnson--johnson-vision-care-receives-fda-approval-for-acuvue-theravision-with-ketotifen--worlds-first-and-only-drug-eluting-contact-lens-301493964.html

(Original text has been abridged)

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