PhacoTreat

Cataract surgery is ranked as one of the most expensive and most frequently performed surgeries in the world. The annual total number is about 4.5 million in USA and EU, increasing with about 5 percent every year. Cataract is caused by opacities in the lens of the eye, resulting in a progressive loss of vision. Through cataract surgery, the clouded natural lens is replaced by an artificial intraocular lens (IOL).

Posterior Capsular Opacification (PCO), sometimes called secondary cataract, affects many patients after cataract surgery. It results in a progressive loss of vision similar to cataract. The reason for the loss of vision is primarily a re-growth of lens epithelial cells on the surface of the lens capsule. In current clinical standard, PCO is treated symptomatically by YAG-laser surgery where part of the lens capsule is "burned" away. The frequency in laser treatment of PCO varies from 5% to 50% of all cataract surgeries, depending on the surgical performance, the equipment and the design of the implanted lenses. YAG-laser surgery is associated with a risk for retinal detachment and the trend in pre-clinical and clinical research is to find ways to reduce the need for laser surgery. The annual public expenses of YAG-laser treatments are estimated to 300 MUSD in USA and EU.

A future demand for efficient PCO reduction is expected from the next generation of accommodative injectable polymer lenses with capability to compensate for presbyopia (nearsightedness). The total number affected by presbyopia is about 230 million individuals in US and Europe and is affecting most of those over the age of 40. Treatment of presbyopia is a huge and almost untapped market for vision correction. The introduction of injectable polymer lenses will most probably mean the end of YAG-laser treatment for PCO and a need for new solutions in order to protect lens capsules from opacification.

In the view of the drawbacks associated with existing methods, PhacoTreat's objective is to provide a product for PCO reduction to be used with implantation of the premium lenses of today and tomorrow. Products are under development with potential to fulfil this objective and we are confident that PhacoTreat will be a trusted supplier to hospitals and cataract surgeons, both in the near and distant future.