Letter: Can Anyone Help Develop This Potential Treatment of an Eye Condition that Affects Millions?

Published on: 3 Aug, 2023
Updated on: 6 Aug, 2023

An eye affected by band keratopathy. Image EyeWiki

From: Nevin Stewart FRSC

This is a plea for help.

I have spent ten years trying to find a lead medical researcher to progress my proposal for a modern improved treatment of band keratopathy, sadly without success. There have been interested professionals but nothing ever came of these false dawns.

Band keratopathy is a chronic eye condition that, according to a 2022 study published in India, affects 0.33 per cent of the population. That’s over 4.5 million of India’s 1.4 billion people, or nearly 26 million of the world’s 7.8 billion. It occurs as a result of eye trauma and a range of other metabolic dysfunctions.

I believe a simple, non-invasive and continuous treatment based on the daily instillation of eye drops containing an active therapeutic drug could be used to treat the condition. Calcium phosphate scale would be gradually dissolved away and its further ongoing deposition inhibited.

The active agent will be identified by studying biodegradable aspartate and inulin chemistries and other candidate actives such as phosphocitrate, a powerful calcification inhibitor. The former compound classes are known to be effective inorganic scale inhibitors and removers in oilfield production settings.

The current treatments are invasive, can be damaging, and do not prevent recurrence. A successful new eye drop-based treatment will restore vision in affected individuals, maintain optical clarity, avoid potentially damaging and expensive surgery, and prevent disabling partial sight or blindness.

Ten years on from my original idea and I have run out of new contact ideas. Can anyone help please?