MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATION - Medical Device Daily

MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATION 2010
SynergEyes to launch ClearKone
lenses geared toward keratoconus
By OMAR FORD
Medical Device Daily Staff Writer
Keratoconus patients, those suffering with a cone
shaped corneas, often have difficulty with wearing contacts.
Trying to find the right kind of lens that will fit is
often difficult and frustrating for some patients. But a small
West Coast-based med-tech company is offering a contact
lens that is promising to give these patients some relief.
SynergEyes (Carlsbad, California) reported that it has
introduced a new advanced lens design for keratoconus
patients in the form of ClearKone. It’s what the company
calls “a revolutionary contact lens” that takes advantage of
the best features of the hybrid platform, providing superior
visual acuity, centration, stability, and all-day comfort.
SynergEyes lenses are the only FDA-cleared hybrid contact
lenses specifically designed for keratoconus vision correction,
the company said.
The lenses are available in 130 locations in the U.S. and
there are plans to add 250 more starting in September,
Kellie Kaseburg, VP of Global Marketing for SynergEyes told
Medical Device Daily.
SynergEyes recognized the need to develop a hybrid
contact lens design that could fit a much broader spectrum
of keratoconus patients, including oval cones, highly
advanced central cones, decentered cones and depending
on the specifics of the case, globus keratoconus and pellucid
marginal degeneration,” Kaseburg said. “The ClearKone
lens does just that and will allow many more keratoconus
patients to experience the benefits of hybrid technology.”
The ClearKone lens uses hybrid technology to give keratoconus
patients visual clarity of a high-oxygen rigid gas permeable
contact lens and the all-day comfort and convenience
of a soft lens. What makes the ClearKone lens different
from other SynergEyes lenses is the design of the lens
itself and the technique used to fit it, the company said.
The patent-pending design is optimized to vault the
predominant irregularities of the keratoconic cornea, thus
effectively restoring vision to a vast majority of irregular
cornea patients, without compromising comfort or eye
health, even in difficult cases.
“In the past there just weren’t a lot of great options for
keratoconus patients,” Kaseburg said. “Some solutions had
patients wearing two contacts in one eye and you can
imagine how problematic that would be. To design a lens
like this . . . that’s always been a goal of the company.”
SynergEyes received a huge boost to its coffers earlier
this year that partly went into funding research and development
of the ClearKone lenses. Back in February the company
closed in on $13.3 million Series C financing. De Novo
Ventures (Palo Alto, California) led this round as well as
SynergEyes’ Series B round. Bio-Star Private Equity Fund
129
(Petoskey, Michigan) joined Series A and B investors Alloy
Ventures (Palo Alto, California), Delphi Ventures (Menlo
Park, California), InnoCal Venture Capital (Costa Mesa,
California) and Windward Ventures (San Diego) as new
investors.
The company also launched a hybrid contact lens
designed for those who need further vision correction after
undergoing refractive vision surgery (MDD, March 3, 2008).
SynergEyes PS (post-surgical) is also designed for people
who have experienced some type of corneal trauma or suffer
from certain degenerative vision conditions. The contact
lenses combine two materials — a rigid gas permeable
center with a soft lens outer skirt. The hybrid design bonds
a hard and soft contact lens together, resulting in a vision
correction option the company said provides “crisp, clear
vision for surgically altered corneas in a comfortable,
healthy contact lens.”
SynergEyes was founded in 2001 and is mostly funded
through venture capital firms. It offers three other lenses
with FDA approval that include SynergEyes A, a lens for naturally
occurring ametropia, targeting patients with astigmatism,
current gas permeable lens wearers and patients
demanding optimized vision; the SynergEyes KC for keratoconus;
and the SynergEyes Multifocal lens for presbyopia.
(This story originally appeared in the July 23, 2009, edition
of Medical Device Daily).
To subscribe, please call MEDICAL DEVICE DAILY Customer Service at (800) 888-3912; outside the U.S. and Canada, call (404) 262-5547.
Copyright © 2010 AHC Media LLC. Reproduction is strictly prohibited.