Special Feature
BRIAN PALL
Director of Clinical Science at Johnson
& Johnson Vision Care
J&J Vision developing
potential new category
of contacts
By Denis Langlois
Johnson & Johnson Vision is working to develop an antihistamine-
releasing contact lens that’s aimed at correcting vision, while
reducing eye itch from allergies.
Phase 3 clinical study results, published in the journal Cornea, have
demonstrated that patients wearing the investigational contact lens
- daily disposable lenses containing ketotifen, a drug that inhibits
certain substances that are known to cause allergic reactions and
inflammation - had lower mean itching scores after their eyes were
exposed to allergens compared to those wearing non-medicated
control lenses.
Following on the Cornea publication, additional data from an
initial proof of concept study involving two different doses of the
antihistamine ketotifen was presented at this year’s Association for
Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting in Vancouver,
B.C. This trial provided the basis for additional studies, including
the Phase 3 pivotal trials which were the first large-scale studies to
evaluate a contact lens-based drug delivery system.
Optical Prism recently spoke with Brian Pall, Director of Clinical
Science at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care and the lead author of
the manuscript, about the investigational lenses and what’s next.
32 Optical Prism | September 2019
Q. Please explain the impact of
ocular allergies on patients and
why it is important to Johnson
& Johnson Vision to find ways to
help people with this condition?
A. More than 20 percent of the
population experience ocular allergy,
or itchy eyes, and the condition
can have a significant impact
on productivity or quality of life.
Contact lens wearers are particularly
impacted by ocular allergies, so we
are very pleased to have reached
this important research and
development milestone.
The primary symptom of ocular
allergy is indeed itch – with
eye-rubbing causing both an
exacerbation of allergic symptoms
and risk to disrupting the ocular
surface or damaging a person’s
contact lenses.
Often contact lens wearers resort
to suffering through or removing
their lenses which is never good if
contact lenses are their preferred
way to correct their vision.
Given the unmet need, Johnson
& Johnson Vision is continuing to
develop what could be an entirely
new category of contact lenses – a