Glaucoma innovation for end of 2010

The French EyeOP1 medical device, from EyeTechCare, is a novel and non-invasive treatment for glaucoma that is based on the use of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFUs). The product is set to become available at the end of 2010.

HIFU technology allows ambulatory treatment, ensuring it is targeted and non-operator dependent, as well as limiting the cost and the risk for the patient. EyeOP1 will be on the market in late 2010 or early 2011.

The product recently won first prize in the 2010 Innovative Medical Technology competition organized by France's Alliance for Biological and Medical Engineering (Alliance pour le Génie Biologique et Médical – AGBM). The competition is open to small and medium-sized companies developing products that have the potential to bring major advances for the healthcare system.

“We were really taken with the technology developed by EyeTechCare, since it brings the hope of a solution to a worldwide public health problem,” explained the President of the IMT jury, Mathias Fink, a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the Collège de France. “Furthermore, EyeTechCare has succeeded in developing this device in less than two years and will soon offer medical practitioners an alternative therapeutic approach for the treatment of glaucoma.”

EyeTechCare expects to confirm the preliminary results of the device’s efficacy by launching it onto the market towards the end of 2010 or early in 2011 and by embarking on a multi-center international study between 2011 and 2013. This study will enable clinical data to be acquired on a large number of patients and over a sufficient period of time.