The concept of UVista® Eye Drops was conceived by our Founder & CEO, Dr. A. Ebbie Soroudi, MD, MS, a Board-Certified Ophthalmologist, and an expert in Ocular Surface Disease & Reconstructive Surgery. While on his honeymoon, Dr. Soroudi lost his sunglasses in the sea and couldn’t find new sunglasses at the resort. After a few days of laying out in the sun without sunglasses, his eyes were completely red and “blood-shot…” It was here that he realized the need for a “sunscreen” for the eyes!
A Vision Takes Shape
Dr. Soroudi discussed his experience and desire to develop this product with his cousin, Dr. Houman Hemmati, MD, PhD, who is also an Ophthalmologist, and a Harvard-trained Corneal Specialist. As the former Director of Clinical Development at Allegan, one of the biggest eye pharmaceutical companies in the world, Dr. Hemmati shared Dr. Soroudi’s vision that the implications of such a formulation would be life-changing to millions of people around the globe and agreed to bring to the world market a whole new category of eye drops.
They engaged Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, one of the best intellectual property law firms in the country to obtain a patent on this invention, and after years of perfecting the application, he was awarded a full patent on this technology on June 28, 2022d: Non-Irritating, Non-Blurring Ophthalmic Sunscreen US Patent Number 11,369,812 B2. This Intellectual Property is also pending international patent grants in the EU, UK, and China.
Challenges
Formulation of an ophthalmic sunscreen is extremely difficult: First, inorganic sunscreen ingredients (like Zinc Oxide) are not suitable for use on the eyes (they’d have to literally cover the whole eye in order to work). Plus, they’re extremely irritating to the eyes and very toxic to the Cornea.
Organic sunscreen agents are extremely irritating to the eyes. Further, the majority of these sunscreen agents are only “oil soluble” and can’t be put in an “aqueous” eye drop and have to be dissolved in oil (they cause blurry vision for hours).
Further, most organic sunscreens only provide UVA OR UVB protection, and they often need to be mixed to provide a “range” of UV protection; this creates a very difficult formulation challenge as you can only dissolve so much in oil, and if you can dissolve enough to be effective, they’re very irritating to the eyes.
To make things more complicated, many sunscreen active agents are only effective in a pH range that is not tolerable to the eyes.
There’s also a question of photostability: the active ingredient has to continue to work for hours without losing its efficacy. A liquid sunscreen does not necessarily stay in the eyes and can be washed out simply by blinking.
Having realized these challenges, Dr. Soroudi sought the collaboration of Dr. Olga Dueva-Koganov, a world expert in the field of sunscreen technology, and a seasoned scientist with two doctorate degrees and years of experience in developing photoprotective compositions that are non-irritating to human eyes.
After experimenting with literally dozens of different active ingredients in different concentrations, dissolved in a variety of solvents, and after hours of severe eye burns and blurry vision by our team, staff, and family members, we were able to finally isolate a single ingredient that causes zero irritation or blurriness when applied to the eyes;
it works at an optimal pH that is compatible with the human tears, it provides meaningful protection again UVB and UVAII rays, it is very photostable, and it has been shown to stay on the ocular surface and has a residence time of over 2 hours!
Our active ingredient has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties in vitro, and it actually provides soothing comfort to the eyes.
Lastly, our sunscreen ingredient is 100% FDA-approved for topical use in the United States, and it has been shown to be safe for use on the eyes even in very high concentrations.
