MORRISVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TearScience®, Inc., a privately-held medical device company, today announced that its system for evaporative dry eye, which includes the LipiView® Ocular Surface Interferometer and LipiFlow® Thermal Pulsation System, increased in acceptance among eye care physicians as a new standard of care in dry eye this month. Unsolicited demand for more than 30 live, in-booth LipiFlow® treatments was met above the seven demonstrations originally scheduled for the ASCRS•ASOA held in Chicago from April 20-24, 2012. Added requests for personal experience with the LipiFlow® treatment was a clear indicator of the impact that the TearScience® commercial offering made when unveiled for the first time since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s clearance for treatment of Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and evaporative dry eye.
TearScience exceeded $1 million in sales at ASCRS. Due to the overwhelming response, the company is ahead of its forecast and will have systems placed in more than 40 premier ophthalmic practices in North America by July 1, 2012.
“By treating physicians at ASCRS, many were able to experience the effectiveness, comfort, and safety of LipiFlow® first hand,” said Jeff O’Hara, TearScience’s vice president of sales for North America. “We are delighted with the results of our program at ASCRS. It was the perfect opportunity for us to reach a broad base of physicians and increase their awareness of the clinical data and science behind LipiFlow®, and the success that early adopters are having on a previously underserved patient population.”
The live, in-booth LipiFlow® treatments were performed by Parag Majmudar, M.D. of Chicago Cornea Consultants and Mitchell A. Jackson, M.D. of Jacksoneye, Inc. LipiFlow® is designed to treat a primary cause of evaporative dry eye disease, obstructed Meibomian glands. The treatment uses precisely controlled heat and pulsatile pressure applied to the eyelids to unblock obstructed Meibomian glands during a 12-minute procedure. LipiFlow® allows the Meibomian glands to resume their natural production of lipids needed for a healthy tear film.
“I recently started using LipiFlow® as part of TearScience’s latest clinical study,” said John A. Hovanesian, M.D., of Harvard Eye Associates, Laguna Hills, CA, and clinical instructor at Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles. “My experience with LipiFlow confirmed the positive reports I have heard from physicians who participated in the first FDA study and from early commercial users. LipiFlow® works. My colleagues are beginning to pay attention to this disruptive, new technology as early adopters will be able to benefit previously underserved patient populations and be on the leading edge of dry eye patient care.”
ASCRS allowed hundreds of physicians to be educated by colleagues on the TearScience® offering for evaporative dry eye by witnessing live demonstrations, listening to presentations at the company’s breakfast symposium, exhibit booth, and as part of the formal education program of ASCRS, as well as through features in the EyeWorld show daily.
About TearScience, Inc.
Headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, TearScience has pioneered devices that provide significant clinical improvement in the treatment of evaporative dry eye. Of the more than 100 million dry eye sufferers worldwide, approximately 86 percent have evaporative dry eye, which is caused by Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) and a lipid deficiency of the eye’s natural tear film. The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) workshop, involving two years of work by 50 leading experts from around the world, concluded that MGD is an under-estimated condition and is very likely the most frequent cause of dry eye disease. Common symptoms of the disease include eye irritation, dryness, redness, tiredness, and visual disturbances. TearScience’s integrated, in-office system enables eye care professionals to effectively address a root cause of evaporative dry eye, obstructed Meibomian glands. For additional information, visit www.tearscience.com.