PALO ALTO, CALIF.—Analysis of 24-month interim data from the pivotal “Cypress” clinical trial is offering increased hope for controlling myopia progression among young children, according to an announcement Thursday. Spectacles that use SightGlass Vision Diffusion Optics Technology were shown to significantly reduce both axial length (mean absolute reduction = 0.27 mm) and cycloplegic SER progression (mean absolute reduction = 0.77 D) in six- and seven-year-old children versus the control, according to the SightGlass Vision announcement.

Data from the trial, “Two Year Effectiveness of a Novel Myopia Management Spectacle Lens in Young Myopes (Rappon J, Neitz J, Neitz M, Chalberg T),” will be presented for the first time at the 2022 Dutch Contact Lens Congress (NCC), which begins next week in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
 
The focus on age is of particular interest to eyecare professionals and researchers, as myopia progresses fastest in the youngest children. Since progression cannot be reversed, immediate intervention to slow or even stop progression is critical to a child’s short-term vision and long-term ocular health, the announcement noted.
 
“Young myopes can be difficult to manage for many reasons. Parents and eyecare professionals have traditionally had a limited number of myopia control solutions for younger children,” said Andrew Sedgwick, chief executive officer of SightGlass Vision. “Our latest analysis suggests that spectacles enabled with SightGlass Vision Diffusion Optics Technology offer a promising new approach to myopia control for six- and seven-year-olds.”
 
Study investigators enrolled, randomized, and dispensed the lenses to 256 eligible children across 14 clinical trial sites in the U.S. and Canada—a geographical distinction compared to most other myopia-related spectacle lens studies. At the time of enrollment, subjects were six to 10 years old, having myopia between -0.75 D and -4.50 D, with nearly a third of them being six or seven years old.
 
With a mean age of 8.1 years at screening, the entire CYPRESS cohort is younger than children in many other well-known myopia management studies across various interventions. The trial is now in its third year.
 
Spectacle lenses using patent-protected SightGlass Vision Diffusion Optics Technology incorporate thousands of micro-dots that softly scatter light to reduce contrast on the retina—a method intended to reduce myopia progression in children, according to the SightGlass announcement.
 
SightGlass Vision, which was founded in 2016, now operates as a joint venture of CooperCompanies and EssilorLuxottica to accelerate commercialization opportunities and expand the myopia management category worldwide.