Sensimed signs Japanese manufacturer to bring diagnostic contact lens into Asia

Swiss contact lens development company Sensimed is joining forces with SEED, a Japanese manufacturer, to bring its FDA-approved Triggerfish glaucoma lens to that country’s market. The companies are devoting 10 million Swiss francs ($10.1 million) to support Japanese registration and further tests.

Sensimed’s Triggerfish is a soft contact lens with an embedded microsensor that captures eye measurements and intraocular pressure over a 24-hour period and relays the data via Bluetooth to related computer software.

The technology gained FDA approval in March.

Along with the manufacturing expansion in Japan, Sensimed will need to acquire registration from authorities there. To that end, the companies will conduct pivotal clinical trials in the country, pending approval from Japan’s PMDA, according to a report from EyeWireToday.

Sensimed and SEED will split the costs of financing the registration, along with matching funds from current investors.

“The prevalence of normal tension glaucoma in Asia presents an additional challenge for doctors in managing their glaucoma patients. In this situation, standard tonometry alone can often lead to misdiagnosis and delayed treatment,” Sensimed CEO David Bailey said. “This study is aimed at providing highly valuable information on the behavior of the eye during 24 hours in order to better categorize and diagnose this dominant group of NTG patients.”

In a study earlier this year in the U.S., researchers found that in patients aged 40 to 89 with open-angle glaucoma, the time of day that a pressure spike occurred tended to correlate with the disease’s progression. By monitoring for 24 hours with the Triggerfish lens, it’s possible to understand further what a patient needs for treatment.