First human trials of Biosignal's anti-bacterial contact lenses

Biosignal, the Australian antimicrobial developer, and the Institute for Eye Research (IER) have received ethics approval for an initial overnight human trial of their anti-bacterial extended wear contact lenses.

Existing extended wear lenses are designed to be worn continuously for 1 month, but clinical data suggests that wearers are 5 times more likely to develop an infection from this type of wear.

The aim of the trial is to compare the safety performance of the anti-bacterial contact lenses developed jointly by Biosignal and the IER with standard contact lenses. The comparison will involve evaluation of ocular health, lens performance on-eye and subjective responses when the lenses are worn for one night.

The trial will be conducted with 10 patients at the clinical facilities of the IER at the University of New South Wales under the guidance of Prof Mark Willcox.

The trial follows a successful two-week study in guinea pigs that demonstrated the anti-bacterial lenses were well tolerated during overnight wear.

"Adverse events caused by microbial contamination of contact lenses are a major impediment to more convenient, extended wear contact lenses", said Willcox. "This trial is the first clinical step towards overcoming this significant problem".

Results from the trial are expected in early July.