A universal eye drop adherence monitor to measure and improve adherence to ocular medications

Project Summary Abstract Universal Adherence is an emerging medical device company dedicated to improving adherence to ocular medications through innovative technical solutionsOur proposed Devers Drop DeviceDwill accurately track when a patient removes an eye drop bottle capcommunicate usage data wirelessly to a database that researchers can accessand send alerts to patients when a medication is dueSignificant loss of vision related quality of life can occur when patients do not adhere to their prescribed eye drop medicationsWe hypothesize that a device that tracks eye drop usage and sends dosage alerts will improve medication adherencewhich would be a tremendous benefit to patients suffering from ocular diseases such as glaucomaVision loss from glaucoma is preventable with medication but accurate adherence to eye drops is often poor among patientsIn addition to helping patients maintain their dosing schedulethe Dwill also provide adherence information to researchers and eye care providerswhich will help to understand poor treatment outcomes and to develop improved treatment strategiesIn this Phase I grant applicationwe are proposing engineering and software improvements to develop the next generation of the DdevicePrototypes of the device will be produced and used in a smallrandomized clinical trial with glaucoma patients to evaluate whether the Dimproves medication adherence and to receive patient feedback on the deviceAt the end of Phase I fundingwe expect to have an unobtrusiveuniversal device that will accurately track when an eye drop medication is used and alert patients when they miss a doseThe device will be marketed to researchers and clinicians who are interested in studying glaucoma adherenceResults of the Phase I project will help guide the third generation of engineering and software improvements for a Phase II application to develop a device for patients and their families to improve glaucoma self careThe clinical benefits of our device in improving adherence will initially be assessed and targeted towards glaucomabut the ability of the device to be attached to all FDA approved eye drop bottle caps will make this device attractive to all patients that need consistent daily use of eye drops Project Narrative Glaucoma is the second leading cause of visual impairment worldwideEye drop medications reduce vision loss from glaucoma by at leastbut eye drops must be taken every day to be effectiveHoweveradherence to eye drop treatment is poor with onlyof patients regularly taking their prescribed eye dropsWe are developing the Devers Drop DeviceDeye drop monitor to accurately measure eye drop cap removal and to improve eye drop taking behaviorThis device could prevent millions of patients from losing vision due to glaucoma