The parent companies of CooperVision and Essilor have announced a new joint venture to acquire a spectacle lens approved for myopia control in several countries.
The partnership involving CooperCompanies and EssilorLuxottica – two giants of the ophthalmic sector – is expected to accelerate commercialisation of spectacle lenses produced by Californian firm SightGlass Vision.
The joint venture, announced on 4 February, will take over SightGlass Vision from CooperCompanies, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. CooperCompanies previously held a minority stake in SightGlass Vision before fully acquiring it last month.
The CooperCompanies-EssilorLuxottica deal will leverage their shared scientific and product development expertise, strengthening innovation opportunities and go-to-market capabilities. It builds on SightGlass Vision’s research, development, and clinical progress since its founding in 2016 to deliver science-based treatments to address the myopia epidemic.
CooperVision president Mr Daniel McBride said the collaboration delivers on its promise to make myopia management accessible and the standard of care for treating childhood myopia.
“With the SightGlass Vision technology from this collaboration, MiSight 1 day and orthokeratology contact lenses from CooperVision, and Stellest lenses from Essilor, eyecare practitioners can create a comprehensive optical intervention portfolio to treat the growing number of children impacted by myopia,” he said.
SightGlass Vision Diffusion Optics Technology (DOT) lenses received CE Mark declaration in June 2020, allowing commercialisation across the European Union, UK, and other European Economic Area countries. The lenses are also approved for sale in Canada.
Dr Thomas Chalberg, founder and CEO of SightGlass Vision, said SightGlass and CooperVision have a shared commitment to advancing evidence-based myopia management technologies.
“This groundbreaking collaboration only adds to our confidence about the future of the technology, the potential for the category and the millions of children whose myopia progression could be slowed,” he said.
SightGlass Vision technology and performance
SightGlass Vision Diffusion Optics Technology (DOT) lenses employ a mechanism of action that modulates peripheral contrast with no impact to on-axis vision. With this technology, contrast modulation is quantified and controlled, and the amount of contrast reduction is not vergence dependent (i.e., not affected by the fixation distance). The device is said to have an excellent safety profile, is visually well-tolerated, and is cosmetically acceptable.
A randomised, controlled study of the lenses in 2018 involved 256 children in the US and Canada aged six to 10, with myopia between -0.75D and -4.50D split into either two test lens groups or a control group.
Both test groups demonstrated superiority for cycloplegic SER change from baseline, with a reduction in myopia progression of 59% and 74% at 12‑months. For the same period, both test arms also demonstrated superiority in terms of axial length change from baseline, with a reduction in axial length progression of 33% and 50% at 12 months.
The subjects are racially diverse and had an average integer age of 8.1 years (SD ± 1.2 years) at screening, making this one of the youngest cohorts ever studied in a myopia management trial.
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