Tech Talk
Vision for the Future Myoptechs aims to curb nearsightedness in children with specialty contact lenses. BY CYNTHIA BENT FINDLAY
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Columbus biotech startup is trying to revolutionize clear sight for young patients. Its contact lens technology shows promise in fighting myopia, which the World Health Organization has designated a global health epidemic. Myopia, commonly known as nearsightedness, has become increasingly prevalent since the 1970s, to the point that currently nearly 30 percent of the world is nearsighted. But Paul Grimm, CEO of Myoptechs, says that number is on track to increase to 5 billion people, or nearly 50 percent of the world’s population, by 2050. There are already parts of Asia where that number is 70 percent, Grimm says. According to Wired magazine, a 2012 study in Seoul found that 96.5 percent of 19-yearold men there were nearsighted. Experts believe the spike is due to a complicated relationship between genetics and exposure to daylight and their combined effect on the shape of a child’s developing eye. Myopia, caused by an irregularly shaped eye or cornea, doesn’t stop at blurry vision. “The elongated eye
and severe myopia puts that patient at a 14-times increased risk for glaucoma, compared to the average person walking around, 22 times for retinal detachment, and 41 times for myopic macular degeneration,” Grimm says. Because the eye is finished developing by the late teens, medical solutions need to come early in life. There are several approaches to fight the occurrence of myopia. Myoptechs is focusing on soft contact lenses that create myopic defocus in the eye, an already proven tactic to slow progression of myopia. “It literally is a stop signal to the eye. It signals the eye to stop growing,” Grimm says. The company’s lenses defocus light in the peripheral retina while also providing the wearer with clearer vision. Grimm says the prototype lenses that Myoptechs is developing provide three times more optical signal than earlier versions, so the hope is they are significantly more effective at slowing the eye elongation that causes myopia to progress. Myoptechs’ team incorporated in 2022, licensed the intellectual property from the Ohio State Innovation
Foundation just under a year ago and then developed its unique faceted design with inventor Dr. Tom Raasch, an optometrist with a Ph.D. in physiological optics who is the company’s head of technology. The company completed its first clinical trial testing the visual acuity of the lenses in early 2024. “The next step is a series of experiments throughout 2024, which will help us identify our two best prototypes,” Grimm says. Next year, Myoptechs will test the effectiveness of those designs. The stakes are high. Soft contact lenses currently make up about 25 percent of the total optical market. The company believes the market for soft contact lenses for myopia control will hit at least $5 billion in the next couple decades. Grimm says the product’s time to the U.S. market will be a few years, given it will probably require a threeyear clinical trial, but he expects the company will have lenses on the market elsewhere as early as 2027. “We’re aiming for as big a segment of that market as possible,” he says. Myoptechs has already received funding grants from the state of Ohio and Rev1 Ventures. “We are currently raising a seed round of funding and are in active conversations with multiple investors to help us fund the rest of our plan for the next couple of years,” Grimm says. Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.
Myoptechs myoptechs.com
BUSINESS: Ophthalmic medical devices FOUNDED: 2022 EMPLOYEES: 3 INVESTMENT TO DATE: Would not disclose
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Dr. Tom Raasch
CEO Paul Grimm
Logo and photos courtesy Myoptechs
CEO: Paul Grimm
ColumbusCEO l Spring 2024
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