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Ocular Dynamics, LLC (Private) |
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July 30, 2012 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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CURRENT ISSUE | COVER ARCHIVES | INDEX | CONTACT | FINANCIALS | SERVICES | HOME PAGE |
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Ocular Dynamics, LLC is Revolutionizing the Contact Lens Industry with their Novel Hydrogel Coating Technology that Allows for the Highest Percentage of Water ever Used Addressing the Large Patient Population with Dry Eye Disease |
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Victor McCray received his
B.S. in Chemistry from Xavier University and his medical degree from the
University of Illinois-Urbana. Victor completed a residency in general
surgery at the University of California, San Francisco-Fresno. Following
residency, Victor completed a medical device fellowship at Stanford
University Biodesign. Currently, Victor practices Trauma and General
Surgery, and is co-founding a startup in the field of ophthalmics.
Website:
www.oculardynamics.com
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Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – July 30, 2012
Dr. McCray: Ocular Dynamics is a contact lens company that aims to make lenses more comfortable for patients that suffer from dry eye symptoms.
Dr. McCray: We have developed a proprietary coating that allows the contact lens to match the natural properties of the tear film, which leads to less disruption of tears and in turn more comfort.
Dr. McCray: This technology is used during the manufacturing of contact lenses and will be valuable to a number of different companies.
Dr. McCray: The hydrogel technology we use allows the surface of the contact lens to have the highest percentage of water that has ever been used. This is what makes the lens more biocompatible and thus more comfortable.
Dr. McCray: The most common soft contact lenses commercially available are made of a combined polymer of silicone and hydrogel. The hydrogel is the water based component of the lens, and the majority of lenses have between 20% and 50% water, which means that there is between 50% and 80% silicone in the lens which is in contact with the eye. Because silicone is a material that does not like water, and the surface of the eye is almost pure water, that makes the lens incompatible with the tears of the eye, which causes disruption and leads to increased evaporation of those tears. What we have developed is a way to make that surface of the lens have greater than 90% water, which very closely matches the water content of the surface of the eye and causes much less tear disruption.
Dr. McCray: Both actually! The content lens manufacturing community, being the big companies, have been trying to make contact lenses more comfortable and in particular, trying to alleviate those symptoms of dryness which patients develop while wearing contact lenses. They have done this by changing the water content of their lenses which is limited due to the negative properties that come with a high water content lens. One of the advantages of our concept is that we have a very high water content surface without sacrificing any of the good properties such as oxygen permeability. I think patients themselves are also searching for a more comfortable contact lens in that ten percent of all contact lens wearers, approximately ten million patients worldwide, stop wearing contact lenses each year because of dry eye symptoms.
Dr. McCray: We have developed early relationships with several of the larger lens companies who have expressed interest in our technology.
Dr. McCray: We have done bench top and animal testing, which has shown that the measurements for comfort are improved when we coat a commercial contact lens with our technology. We are further developing our process in order to perform a clinical trial which we are currently planning.
Dr. McCray: For our clinical trial, we will only require approval by the research board as this is a device that is very low risk. The regulatory pathway long-term will be a 510K with a clinical trial for efficacy in patients that have dry-eye symptoms.
Dr. McCray: We anticipate our first trial by the end of 2012.
Dr. McCray: We have received an SBIR grant for Phase 1, which we anticipate will take us well through 2012, and we are beginning to fundraise in anticipation of steps beyond our pilot trial.
Dr. McCray: Currently, several companies have expressed the possibility of developing a partnership. However, at this time, we are developing the technology on our own.
CEOCFO: When this is all ready, will you be licensing the technology? Dr. McCray: We are open to an early licensing opportunity with a commercial company, but we do have a plan to develop and market our own lens.
Dr. McCray: The biggest challenge was getting proof-of-concept without having significant funding. We were able to accomplish a significant amount even before receiving the SBIR grant, just based on ingenuity, creativity, and sweat equity. We have a fantastic team that has allows us to do this.
Dr. McCray: The materials themselves will not add much cost at all.
Dr. McCray: We are addressing a clinical need that is very significant in numbers. There are over one hundred million contact lens wearers globally, with over thirty million in the United States alone. The problem we are solving would recapture the 10% of the market which discontinue contact lens use each year. The regulatory path is also very well defined for contact lenses which removes some of the ambiguity from the regulatory process. Additionally, the market dynamics are such that a small shift in market share among the big contact lens companies represents a substantial annual revenue, which gives us the opportunity for an early exit.
Dr. McCray: We are not aware of any company that is addressing this need in the way that we are. Each major contact lens company has technology to make contact lenses more comfortable for this patient population, however no product on the market has managed to solve this problem yet.
Dr. McCray:
We are revolutionizing the contact lens industry with a novel technology
addressing a large population. The capital requirements to build significant
value and the regulatory risks are very low compared to the large market
potential. From a start-up standpoint, it is a very attractive opportunity. |
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We are revolutionizing the contact lens industry with a novel technology addressing a large population. The capital requirements to build significant value and the regulatory risks are very low compared to the large market potential. From a start-up standpoint, it is a very attractive opportunity. - Victor McCray, M.D. |
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