image_alt_text
1

Mark Byrne, Ph.D.

AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2011
For pioneering contributions to the development of the first recognitive, intelligent systems for responsive drug delivery of drugs, peptides and proteins, and for industrial leadership through founding of two successful biotech companies.

Contact lenses may soon dispense drugs, monitor glucose

Via Healio | February 8, 2018

Contact lenses that elute drugs and those that measure glucose may be available in the near future if technologies being developed by OcuMedic Inc. and i-Chek prove successful. Researchers from Rowan University developed drug-eluting technology in a silicone hydrogel contact lens for OcuMedic, and researchers from the University of Maryland developed a glucose monitoring contact lens that uses a mobile device to store tear glucose readings for i-Chek

Keith Ignotz, OcuMedic CEO and i-Chek advisor, discussed with Primary Care Optometry News why 50 years of previous technologies have failed and how these companies plan to succeed.

PCON: Other companies have attempted sustained drug release in a contact lens. What is OcuMedic doing differently?

Ignotz: OcuMedic’s technology was developed by Mark Byrne, PhD, distinguished professor of chemical and biomedical engineering and the founding head of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Rowan University, and his research team. Dr. Byrne serves as cofounder of OcuMedic and chief technical officer. The technology rests on nine issued patents, and efficacy has been proven in an animal model… Continue reading.