Eye ring is more effective than drops for glaucoma treatment

The Helios silicone ring sits just inside the eye and delivers time-released drugs to help reduce glaucoma symptoms

ForSight Vision5 said that its Helios silicone ring is designed to provide sustained intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering for patients who cannot or do not take their prescribed eye drops.

IOP-lowering has been shown to reduce visual field loss in patients with ocular hypertension and open-angle glaucoma.

The company completed a randomised, controlled Phase 2 study comparing the investigational Helios bimatoprost ocular insert to twice-daily timolol eye drops.

The data demonstrated that the Helios bimatoprost ocular insert provided sustained reduction in IOP for six months with approximately 90% of subjects keeping the inserts in both eyes without clinician assistance.

James Brandt, principal investigator of the study and director of the glaucoma service at the University of California Davis Health System, said: “We know that a significant portion of our patients struggle with IOP-lowering eye drop adherence and persistence and that inadequate eye drop usage leads to vision loss.

“A well-tolerated, well-retained, topical sustained drug delivery system that provides clinically relevant IOP-lowering for six months would allow us to treat these patients in a meaningful way.”

Kuldev Singh, professor of ophthalmology and director of the glaucoma service at Stanford University School of Medicine, said: “There is tremendous unmet need for a drug delivery mechanism that can deliver therapeutic levels of IOP lowering medication without requiring penetration of ocular tissue such as the sclera, cornea or conjunctiva in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension.”

“In addition to addressing the enormous problem of poor adherence to glaucoma medications, a drug delivery approach that encourages patients to return every few months for treatment may also improve disease surveillance allowing for appropriate adjustment of therapy,” added Singh who cited recent work with collaborators from the University of California San Francisco which suggest that poor follow up may be an independent risk factor for glaucoma progression.