Polymeric materials for making contact lenses

US6815074B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Novartis AG · CH

Inventors

• Celeste Aguado · Atlanta, US
• Paul Clement Nicolson · Dunwoody, US
• Lynn Cook Winterton · Roswell, US
• Yongxing Qiu · Duluth, US
• John Martin Lally · Lilburn, US
• Jacalyn Mary Schremmer · Atlanta, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 22, 2002
• Grant date: Nov 9, 2004
• Expiry date: May 22, 2022

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T428/31663
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An ophthalmic lens suited for extended-wear periods of at least one day on the eye without a clinically significant amount of corneal swelling and without substantial wearer discomfort. The lens has a balance of oxygen permeability and ion or water permeability, with the ion or water permeability being sufficient to provide good on-eye movement, such that a good tear exchange occurs between the lens and the eye. A preferred lens is a copolymerization product of a oxyperm macromer and an ionoperm monomer. The invention encompasses extended wear contact lenses, which include a core having oxygen transmission and ion transmission pathways extending from the inner surface to the outer surface.