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News
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Companies
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Wednesday, 22 May 2013 |
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Safilo and Essilor has announced a ten-year licensing agreement for the design, manufacture and worldwide distribution by Essilor of polarized ophthalmic lenses under the Polaroid brand for use with eyewear products in general.
Roberto Vedovotto, CEO of Safilo Group, commented: “We are very proud to start this long-term partnership with Essilor, a Group that has been driven by innovation in the development of lenses for more than 160 years. We consider this project an extraordinary opportunity for Polaroid not only to confirm its credibility and worthiness as a reference brand for the protection and improvement of eyesight, but also to extend its application to eyesight correction, in order to always offer consumers throughout the world best-in-class products.”
Hubert Sagnières, Chairman and CEO of Essilor, commented: “We are delighted to team up with Safilo for the worldwide development and promotion of Polaroid’s lenses. The strength of the Polaroid brand is a key lever in drawing people's attention on the importance of protecting their eyes from the sun and in growing the polarized category within the mainstream consumer segment. This new collaboration will allow us to bring together Essilor’s strong know-how and leadership in ophthalmic lenses with Polaroid’s strong recognition on polarization.”
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Australian News
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Tuesday, 21 May 2013 |
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Community voices will be heard at the very heart of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (National Scheme) with the establishment of a Community Reference Group to work with AHPRA and the National Boards - the first time a national group of this kind has been established in Australia. Seven members from the community, who are not health practitioners, have been appointed to the group, which will be chaired by Mr Paul Laris, a community member on two Boards in the National Scheme. The group will have a number of roles, including providing feedback, information and advice on strategies for building better knowledge in the community about health practitioner regulation, but also advising AHPRA on how to better understand, and most importantly, meet, community needs.
AHPRA CEO Mr Martin Fletcher said that the Community Reference Group was an important step to increasing community input into health practitioner regulation. ‘Health practitioner regulation affects everyone, because it is about public safety. But not many people are aware of how it works or what it does,’ Mr Fletcher said.
‘The Community Reference Group will work with the 14 National Boards and AHPRA and advise us how we can build community awareness, understanding and support for the Australia’s regulatory scheme for health practitioners,’ he said.
The group will be chaired by Mr Paul Laris, who is a community member of the Medical Board of Australia as well as of its South Australian Board. Mr Laris said the group's establishment was timely.
‘The national regulatory scheme is firmly in place. There are already community members on all National Boards, and this new advisory group will give another voice to the wider community,’ Mr Laris said. ‘The Community Reference Group will establish an important channel for greater community input and advice to the National Boards and AHPRA, and help build community understanding of the importance of regulation in protecting the public,’ he said. As part of a scheduled review this year, the National Boards are undertaking wide-ranging consultations on the standards, codes and guidelines that establish the requirements for registration of practitioners. ‘It is vital that health service users have a major input into the review of standards, codes and guidelines. The purpose of the scheme is to ensure public safety and access to safe and effective health care. We can best ensure that by involving the community in the planning, implementation and delivery of the scheme,’ said Mr Laris.
The establishment of the Community Reference Group follows a series of community forums held by AHPRA in 2012, in partnership with the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF). The forums were an opportunity for AHPRA and the National Boards to hear, first hand, the thoughts and opinions of members of the community, and better understand how to build ongoing engagement with the community. Attendees to these forums were encouraged to nominate for the Community Reference Group.
CHF CEO, Ms Carol Bennett, said that establishing a group which had the purpose of representing community voices and help engage the wider community is an important step in the maturation of the national scheme for regulating health practitioners.
‘The Community Reference Group will ensure that consumers have a voice in the regulation of health practitioners. This group will also be a key part of AHPRA’s consumer engagement strategy, which began last year with a series of community briefings across Australia,’ said Ms Bennett.
The Community Reference Group will have its first meeting in June 2013.
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Australian News
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Monday, 20 May 2013 |
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The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) strongly oppose the recent Australian budget announcement capping work-related education expenses at $2,000 from July 1, 2014.
RANZCO CEO Dr David Andrews said “this is an unnecessary obstacle for ophthalmologists, and in fact all doctors, who wish to improve their skills and knowledge so they can provide better healthcare to their patients.”
“Capping educational expenses makes it difficult for medical eye specialists to attend a wide range of educational events, which they are required to do by the Government to meet strict mandatory continuing education requirements,” said Dr Andrews.
“The policy simply doesn’t make sense. On the one hand the Government requires doctors to participate in rigorous on-going education to ensure the standard of healthcare provided remains amongst the best in the world, but then they decide to cap how this can occur.”
“The Australian Government needs to reconsider this policy as a matter of urgency. At present they risk Australians no longer enjoying the high quality of specialist healthcare they have come to expect.”
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Ophthalmology and Optometry
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Friday, 17 May 2013 |
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Myopia Progression Control (MPC) developed by Visioneering Technologies, Inc. (VTI) shows significant potential for decreasing myopic progression based on animal study results, according to a paper published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS). A breakthrough contact lens design for myopia progression control.
Conducted by the Centre for Contact Lens Research at the University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry & Vision Science in Canada, the purpose of the randomized, masked animal study was to determine the effect of wearing VTI’s unique MPC optical design on the development and progression of defocus-induced myopia in newly hatched chickens.
According to the published study, the patented VTI MPC lens designs caused a significant reduction in the development of defocus-induced myopia over a 14-day wearing period as compared to a control contact lens that was identical in every aspect except for the inclusion of the VTI MPC optical design. It further reported that there was also a significant axial length difference with the Control group showing increased ocular axial growth as compared to the Test VTI MPC design groups.
Dr. Jill Woods, who was the lead author on the publication, commented: “This study using VTI MPC lens designs (-10D) is the first to report nearly complete inhibition of defocus-induced myopia in chickens compared to control lenses (also -10D). The lack of significant axial length increase seen with the VTI MPC test groups indicates that these lens designs reduced defocused-induced myopia progression through the inhibition of axial elongation.” Dr. Woods added: “Further work is still needed to determine the exact mechanisms by which the lens designs decreased the development of myopia, but the potential shown to decrease the development of myopia was significant.”
Myopia, the inability to see objects clearly at a distance, has a prevalence rate of 40% to 50% in the U.S. and Europe, with prevalence rates as high as 80% in some Asian countries. Myopia is the main cause of distance visual impairment worldwide, and is also associated with an increased risk of certain potentially sight-threatening conditions including glaucoma and retinal detachments.
The chicken model has been used to test the ocular development of myopia and other ocular conditions for over 50 years, according to Dr. Elizabeth Irving, professor and University Research Chair at the University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science and also an author on the publication. Dr. Irving, who has spent most of her career studying the development of refractive conditions in animals and humans, noted: “The chicken model of myopia development is not always directly applicable to humans, but most of the significant findings found in chicks have been subsequently replicated in monkeys and a wide variety of other species, indicating that the chicken model is robust and therefore an indicator of the possibility of similar results with the lens design in humans.”
“To date, various strategies to prevent or slow the progression of myopia in humans, such as bifocals, undercorrection and cycloplegia, have generally either been unsuccessful in the long-term, or given rise to unacceptable side-effects,” according to Dr. Sally Dillehay, vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs for VTI.
Dr. Dillehay added, “If the VTI MPC lens designs can be as effective in humans as they were in this chicken study, the potential for controlling myopia progression is significant. We have already conducted several short-term trials in humans and the vision with the VTI MPC lenses has been excellent.” VTI is now in the planning stages for the longer-term trials to demonstrate that the lens is effective in humans for decreasing the progression of myopia, according to the company.
Visioneering’s new contact lens technology has multiple applications including control of myopic progression as well as multifocal vision correction for presbyopia. The company expects to introduce a contact lens for presbyopia incorporating its unique technology in early 2014, according to Joe DeLapp, president and CEO of VTI. An intraocular lens using VTI’s technology for presbyopia is also under development.
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Ophthalmology and Optometry
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Thursday, 16 May 2013 |
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Relief from dry eye and other symptoms of discomfort experienced by contact lens wearers may come through simply switching contact lens products a new study has found. Advanced contact lens products are extremely safe and provide comfortable wear for more than a hundred million people worldwide yet discomfort remains one of the main reasons people stop wearing contact lenses. As many as 12 million people drop out of lens wear annually but researchers have found relief for some may be as simple as selecting a different combination of their contact lens and disinfecting solution.
According to scientific journal Optometry and Vision Science, which published the research in its May edition, the study conducted by the Brien Holden Vision Institute in Sydney provides scientific support for a clinical approach commonly recommended by eye care professionals. The new study was designed to evaluate the amount of improvement that might reasonably be expected by switching contact lenses and lens care products. The results indicate that "roughly half" of patients with contact lens-related symptoms have improved comfort by switching to a different lens/solution combination.
However, the authors note that, even with the improvement, discomfort still increases toward the end of the day. They call for continued efforts by eye care professionals and researchers to eliminate this persistent problem and provide "a maximally comfortable result," for patients who wear contact lenses.
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