CooperVision trio scoop BCLA Industry Award

Three CooperVision “myopia management visionaries” have been awarded the 2019 British Contact Lens Association (BCLA) Industry Award for their work developing, researching and commercialising the company’s MiSight 1 day contact lens.

John Phillips, Stuart Cockerill and Paul Chamberlain (the latter pictured right with immediate past BCLA president, Professor Sunil Shah) were recognised on Saturday 1 June at the BCLA’s awards dinner in Manchester.

Myopia is projected to affect the vision and ocular health of approximately five billion people by 2050, more than doubling today’s numbers (Holden et al, Global Prevalence of myopia and high myopia and temporal trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology 2016. 123(5):1036-1042).

The rising prevalence of myopia is sparking the need to go beyond solely providing vision correction, to also deliver accessible, effective methods to slow the progression of myopia in children, stated CooperVision, adding: “These factors led the three pioneers to each play a substantial role in developing and commercialising the MiSight 1 day contact lens, which is now worn by more than 10,000 children around the world”.

“Myopia management has been described as the ‘next contact lens revolution’ – something more evident than ever at this year’s BCLA conference,” said James Gardner, vice president, global myopia management for CooperVision. “However, it takes inspiration, vision and dedication to integrate new technology into a commercially viable approach. The foresight and years of effort from John, Stuart and Paul are well deserving of recognition from their peers and the industry. Yet they’ll be the first to tell you the honour is not about them—it’s about the thousands of children who are benefiting from that work every day. It’s this attitude that gives us hope that we can truly make an impact, working alongside ECPs to take on myopia.”

MiSight 1 day contact lenses are currently available for sale in Canada, the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Nordic Region, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. The lens is not approved in the United States.