A synthetic fluid that turns into a clear, flexible film inside the eye could stop blinding scar tissue from forming after infection or injury. Corneal scarring is a leading cause of blindness worldwide, affecting millions of people. Current treatment relies on antibiotics and then hoping the eye heals without clouding over—which it often does not. The World Health Organisation has made preventing corneal blindness a priority. This project aims to give clinicians a tool that actively prevents scarring rather than just treating the infection. If the dressing works in humans, it could dramatically reduce the number of people who lose their sight from corneal injuries, infections, or inflammation. That would cut the need for corneal transplants and lower the global burden of avoidable blindness. The researchers have already developed a prototype, tested its manufacture, and consulted clinicians on its design. This grant will allow them to refine the dressing, scale up production, gain regulatory approval, and run a small safety and efficacy trial in patients with infected corneas. They are also developing a commercialisation plan to make the dressing widely available in clinics.
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Injuries caused by trauma, infections and inflammation to the surface of the eye can cause scarring that 'clouds' the transparent window of the eye called the cornea, interfering with vision and is sight-threatening. 'Corneal Blindness' affects millions of people and the World Health Organisation have made curing the problem a priority area programme to prevent world-wide blindness. The current treatment for damaged eyes caused by infection is to treat with antibiotic agents followed by strategies to promote healing. We are developing a synthetic, optically-transparent, anti-scarring dressing (biomembrane) suitable for the management of patients world-wide at risk of corneal scarring following injury, by promoting cells and molecules in tissues to heal without scarring improving patient visual outcomes. To date we have: (1), engaged closely with clinical colleagues to define and refine the characteristics and technical specifications of the fluid biomembrane dressing to ensure suitability for clinical use (2), investigated processes for its manufacture (3), performed limited testing of a dressing prototype (4), prepared a technical portfolio of the performance data generated thus far. We now seek further funding to allow progression of the project so that we can: (1), refine and improve the characteristics and performance of the dressing (2), scale-up its manufacture for use in humans (3), obtain regulatory approvals for testing in humans and finally (4), undertake a small clinical trial to check for safety and see how well the anti-scarring dressing works on patients with infected corneas. At this same time we will be (5), developing a commercialisation plan so that the new dressing becomes widely available for use in the clinic to reduce ocular scar formation that can cause blindness.
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