Alcon, Inc.

Porex Corporation

Yuan Chang

Steve Yun Zhang

Junhao Ge

Augustine Twum Kumi

Michelle Plavnik

Yang Zheng

Ethan Leveillee

Jing Cheng

Yongxing Qiu

John Dallas Pruitt

Robert Carey Tucker

Newton T Samuel

Chung-Yuan Chiang

Cornelius Daniel Niculas

Daqing Wu

Ying Zheng

Karen Belinda Sentell

David Andrew Icenogle

Jang-Shing Chiou

Jinbo Dou

Feng Jing

Richard Charles Breitkopf

Avi M Robbins

Chandana Kolluru

Weihong Lang

Daryl Reece

Zahra Bassampour

Ying Pi

Micah Streiff

Stephen Raymond Perreault

Justin Joel Aguayo

Muhammad Waqas Asif

Robert Carpio, Iii

Kathleen Fitzpatrick

Rahul Maharsia

Saman Mahdavi Shahidani

Hayden Shelly

Li Yao

Ye Hong

Robert Iii Carpio

A dosing system and method for delivery of contact lens formulation(s) to a contact lens forming mold. The system includes a carrier portion configured for holding a contact lens mold, and an alignment mandrel configured for retaining a lens formulation delivery device. The lens formulation delivery device is retained in a specified position relative to the contact lens mold for precise location of delivery of the lens formulation within the contact lens mold. A first lens formulation can be dosed to a center location in the mold, and a different second lens formulation can be dosed to a ring-shaped pattern around the center location, to form a contact lens having different center and edge characteristics.

Formulation dosing device for contact lens fabrication

The invention is directed to an embedded hydrogel contact lens, which comprises an insert sandwiched between two layers of hydrogel materials and can be produced according to a cast molding method including the procedures involving two females halves (FCand FC) and two male halves (BCand BC) and three consequential molding steps involving three molding assemblies: the 1st one formed between FCand BCfor molding an insert; the 2one formed between FCand BCfor molding a lens precursor having the molded insert embedded in a layer of a hydrogel material in a way that the front surface of the molded insert merges with the convex surface of the lens precursor; and the 3rd one formed between FCand BCfor molding an embedded hydrogel contact of the invention.

Method for making embedded hydrogel contact lenses

Systems, devices, and methods are disclosed for fabricating a hybrid contact lens product having a lens insert embedded at a precisely controlled location within a lens body. A mold engagement and support base engages and retains a lens forming mold in a substantially fixed position. An insert placement and positioning device includes an insert pickup head with a contact face configured for releasable engagement of the lens insert and at least one suction opening in the contact face for applying suction to engage the insert on the contact face. A positioning housing interacts with the mold and/or the support base to provide precise locational positioning of the lens insert within the mold. A lens body forming material is delivered to the mold to encapsulate the lens insert.

Systems and methods for insert placement to fabricate hybrid contact lenses

The invention is directed to a colored cosmetic photochromic contact lens, comprising: a pupil section, a generally annular iris section surrounding the pupil section, wherein at least the pupil section is photochromic, wherein the iris section having a colored, printed, opaque, intermittent pattern, wherein the said pattern is covered by a clear ink layer, wherein the clear ink layer is on outer surface of lens to the observer.

Colored cosmetic photochromic contact lenses

The invention is related to contact lenses that not only comprise the much desired water gradient structural configurations, but also have a minimized uptakes of polycationic antimicrobials and a long-lasting surface hydrophilicity and wettability even after going through a 30-days lens care regime. Because of the water gradient structural configuration and a relatively-thick, extremely-soft and water-rich hydrogel surface layer, a contact lens of the invention can provide superior wearing comfort. Further, a contact lens of the invention is compatible with multipurpose lens care solutions present in the market and can endure the harsh lens care handling conditions (e.g., digital rubbings, accidental inversion of contact lenses, etc.) encountered in a daily lens care regime. As such, they are suitable to be used as weekly- or monthly-disposable water gradient contact lenses.

Weekly and monthly disposable water gradient contact lenses

The invention relates to a method for producing embedded hydrogel contact lenses involving a set of 3-mold halves consisting essentially of: one female lens mold half having a molding surface defining the anterior surface of a contact lens; one male lens mold half having a molding surface defining the posterior surface of the contact lens; and an insert mold half having a molding surface defining one of the front and back surfaces of an insert. One of the lens mold halves is used twice: first with the insert mold half for molding an insert during first curing process and then with the other lens mold half for molding an embedded hydrogel contact lens with the molded insert embedded partially or fully therein during second curing process. The invention also relates to embedded hydrogel contact lenses produced from a method of the invention.

Embedded hydrogel contact lenses

The present invention relates to a method to load a water insoluble phospholipid as nanoparticles to load into a hydrogel contact lens in autoclaving process during the hydrogel contact lens manufacturing process without an extra manufacturing step and without swelling the hydrogel contact lens with an organic solvent. The phospholipid nanoparticles loaded in hydrogel contact lens subsequently releases to the eye upon wearing.

Contact lens packaging solutions

Described herein is a method for producing photochromic contact lenses, in particular, photochromic silicone hydrogel contact lenses. The method comprises a step of cast molding of a lens-forming composition including a vinylic monomer having a primary amino or thiolactone group to form an unprocessed contact lens having the polymer matrix of which have pendant primary amino or thiolactone groups, a step of one-pot multistep reactions based on thiolactone chemistry (aminolysis and thiol-induced graft polymerization of a photochromic vinylic monomer to the polymer matrix) which are carried out only in its central region which is circular and concentric with the central axis of the unprocessed contact lens. The obtained photochromic contact lens has a central pupillary region that only can undergo a reversible color change upon exposure to UV/HEVL-radiation.

Method for making photochromic contact lenses

Described herein is a method for producing photochromic silicone hydrogel contact lenses in a relatively efficient and consistent manner from a polymerizable composition under a controlled thermal curing scheme. The main polymerizable components in the polymerizable composition are a high radical-reactive hydrophilic (meth)acrylamido monomer, a high radical-reactive siloxane-containing (meth)acrylamido monomer, and a polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker(s) free of low-reactive ethylenically unsaturated group as the main crosslinker. The thermal free radical initiator having a 10 hour half-life temperature (T) of from about 50° C. to about 90° C. The controlled thermal curing scheme includes maintaining a first curing temperature of from about (T−20)° C. to about T° C. for a first curing time and maintaining a second curing temperature of from about (T+10)° C. to about (T+35)° C. for a second curing time.

The invention provides a class of photochromic polydiorganosiloxane vinylic crosslinkers. Each of the photochromic polydiorganosiloxane vinylic crosslinkers of the invention comprise (1) a polydiorganosiloxane polymer chain comprising dimethylsiloxane units and photochromic siloxane unit having one methyl substituent and one organic substituent having a photochromic moiety that capable of undergoing a reversible color change upon exposure to UV-irradiation or high-energy-violet light; (2) two terminal ethylenically-unsaturated groups. The invention also provides a soft photochromic contact lens, especially a photochromic silicone hydrogel contact lens, which comprises a crosslinked polymeric material comprising repeating units of at least one of such a class of photochromic polydiorganosiloxane vinylic crosslinkers. The invention further provides a method of producing a photochromic contact lens from a polymerizable composition comprising at least one of such a class of photochromic polydiorganosiloxane vinylic crosslinkers.

Photochromic polydiorganosiloxane vinylic crosslinkers

The invention provides a method for imaging and thickness determination of coatings on coated contact lenses. The method comprises selectively staining a negatively-charged-groups-containing coating over the lens body of a coated contact lens by immersing the coated contact lens in an aqueous solution comprising a fluorescently-labeled polycationic polymer and having a pH of from about 6.5 to 8.0; orthogonally cutting the selectively-stained coated contact lens; and determining the thickness of the coating on the coated contact lens. In addition, the invention provides a method for selecting a candidate coating material comprising negatively charged groups for applying a coating with a desired thickness onto silicone hydrogel contact lenses and for optimizing a coating process for producing coated silicone hydrogel contact lenses with a desired thickness coating thereon.

Method for determining coating thickness on coated contact lenses

Described herein is a method for producing photochromic contact lenses, in particular, photochromic silicone hydrogel contact lenses. The method comprises a step of cast molding of a lens-forming composition including an iniferter to form an unprocessed contact lens having iniferter moieties covalently incorporated into its polymer matrix and a step of iniferter-induced graft-polymerization of a photochromic vinylic monomer to the polymer matrix only in its central region which is circular and concentric with the central axis of the unprocessed contact lens. The obtained photochromic contact lens has a central pupillary region that only can undergo a reversible color change upon exposure to UV/HEVL-radiation.

Described herein is a method for producing a contact lens comprising a central photochromic zone that has a diameter of about 13 mm or less and is concentric with the central axis of the contact lens. The method comprises: applying, in the center of the molding surface of a male mold half, a drop (having a volume of about 5 &#x3bc;L or less) of a first polymerizable fluid composition containing at least one photochromic compound and a relatively-high molecular weight polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker for increasing the viscosity and adhesion on the molding surface of the male mold half; dosing a second polymerizable fluid composition in a female mold hald; closing the female mold hald with the male mold half with the drop thereon to form a molding assembly; and curing the second polymerizable fluid composition and the drop of the first polymerizable fluid composition in the molding assembly.

The invention relates to an ophthalmic product which comprises a sealed and autoclave-sterilized lens package including (1) a post-autoclave packaging solution containing a polymeric surfactant having an HLB value of from about 11 to about 16 and a Mn of from about 800 to about 20,000 Daltons and (2) a readily-usable silicone hydrogel (SiHy) contact lens immersed in the packaging solution. The readily-usable SiHy contact lens comprises the polymeric surfactant thereon providing an excellent wettability to the readily-usable SiHy contact lens directly out of the lens package, and also the leachable polymeric surfactant which is physically distributed in the polymer matrix of the SiHy contact lens and can be released to the eye of a patient for at least 7 days of daily wear and to replenish the lens surface-bound polymeric surfactant to provide sustainable wettabilities to the contact lens and the eye.

Growing community of inventors

Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Yuan Chang