Around the world, the incidence of eye diseases is constantly increasing, either due to environmental factors, or because more and more people turn to unhealthy lifestyles, and then later pay the price. In order to curb the rates at which human eyes deteriorate, Canadian experts have set up a new university/industry research network, which aims to develop new medical devices, biomaterials and drug-delivery systems against a number of conditions affecting both the eyes and the optical nerves.

Speaking on September 24th at the McMaster University in Hamilton, Federal Minister of State (Science and Technology) Gary Goodyear announced that the new 20/20: NSERC Ophthalmic Materials Network (20/20 Network) had been awarded a $5-million research grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Additional money, the official said, were coming in from the industry partners, as well as from the Ontario Centers of Excellence.

“Providing Canadians with a lifetime of perfect vision is the ultimate goal of the network. It is rather ambitious but by combining different areas of expertise there is a lot of potential for drastically improving treatment of vision loss,” McMaster University Professor of Chemical Engineering Heather Sheardown, who is also the scientific director of the new 20/20 Network, explains. Composite and hybrid materials, ocular microgels, microemulsions and triggerable materials for drug release are all targeted by the research initiative, which plans to make them commercially available to patients as soon as possible.

“The potential for new biomaterials and drug-delivery devices to address vision loss is hugely untapped. This is the type of initiative we need to release our research talent in Canada, provide new therapies for vision loss, and develop a homegrown industry,” 20/20 Network Board of Directors Vice President of Research, CNIB and Chair, Keoth Gordon, adds. Some of the universities involved in the project, in addition to McMaster, are Queen's University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Waterloo. Industrial partners include Alimera Sciences, the CIBA Vision Corporation, Custom Contact Lenses, Fovea Pharmaceuticals, iCo Therapeutics, Rimon Therapeutics, the Siltech Corporation, Take Control Cosmedix, Vista Optics Limited, and Walsh Medical Devices.

“There is a lot of innovative and promising work being done in universities to address disorders of the eye and other conditions. This network provides an ideal forum to bring key players together and move solutions into the market as quickly as possible,” Rimon Therapeutics Ltd. President Michael May, who is also on the board of directors, says. Over the next five years, estimates show that 30 to 40 post-doctoral fellows, 35 to 45 graduate students and more than 60 summer students will be trained within the research initiative.