N-Acetylcarnosine sustained drug delivery eye drops to control the signs of ageless vision: Glare sensitivity, cataract amelioration and quality of vision currently available treatment for the challenging 50,000-patient population

Mark A Babizhayev¹, Leslie Burke², Philip Micans³, Stuart P Richer^4,5

¹Innovative Vision Products, Inc., County of New Castle, Delaware, USA; ²Wise Choice Products LLC, London, England, United Kingdom; ³IAS Group, Sark, United Kingdom; ⁴Eye Clinic DVA Medical Center, North Chicago, Illinois, USA; ⁵Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, Illinois, USA

Background: Innovative Vision Products, Inc. (IVP)’s scientists developed the lubricant eye drops (Can-C™) designed as 1% N-acetylcarnosine (NAC) prodrug of L-carnosine containing a mucoadhesive cellulose-based compound combined with corneal absorption promoters in a sustained drug delivery system. Only the natural L-isomeric form of NAC raw material was specifically synthesized at the cGMP facility and employed for the manufacturing of Can-C™ eye drops.

Objective and study design: In the present clinical study the authors assessed vision before and after 9 month term of topical ocular administration of NAC lubricant eye drops or placebo in 75 symptomatic patients with age-related uncomplicated cataracts in one or both eyes, with acuity in one eye of 20/40 or worse (best-corrected distance), and no previous cataract surgery in either eye and no other ocular abnormality and 72 noncataract subjects ranged in age from 54 to 78 years.

Setting: Subjects in these subsample groups have reported complaints of glare and wanted to administer eye drops to get quick eye relief and quality of vision for their daily activities including driving and computer works. Following 9 months of treatment with NAC lubricant eye drops, most patients’ glare scores were improved or returned to normal in disability glare tests with Halometer DG. Improvement in disability glare was accompanied with independent improvement in acuity. Furthermore, patients with the poorest pretreatment vision were as likely to regain certain better visual function after 9 months of treatment with N-acetylcarnosine lubricant eye drops as those with the worth pretreatment vision.

Patients or other participants: The authors made a reference to electronic records of the product sales to patients who have been made the repurchase of the Can-C™ eye drops since December 2001.

Intervention: Based on this analysis of recorded adjustments to inventory, various parameters were analyzed during the continued repurchase behavior program, including testimonials from buyers. With these figures, researchers judged on the patients’ compliance rate to self-administer NAC eye-drops.

Main outcome measure and results: The ophthalmic drug showed potential for the nonsurgical treatment of age-related cataracts for participants after controlling for age, gender and daily activities and on a combined basis of repurchases behavior reports in more than 50,000 various cohort survivors, has been demonstrated to have a high efficacy and good tolerability for prevention and treatment of visual impairment determined for the older population with relative stable pattern of causes for blindness and visual impairment. The mechanisms of prevention and reversal of cataracts with NAC ophthalmic drug are considered which include prevention by the intraocular released carnosine of free-radical-induced inactivation of proprietary lens antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase); prevention of carbohydrate and metal-catalyzed autooxidation of ascorbic acid-induced cross-linking glycation reactions to the lens proteins; transglycation properties of carnosine, allowing it to compete for the glycating agent, protecting proteins (lens crystallins) against modification; universal antioxidant and scavenging activity towards lipid hydroperoxides, aldehydes and oxygen radicals; activation with L-carnosine ingredient of proteasome activity in the lens; chaperone-like disaggregating to lens crystallins activity of NAC and of its bioactivated principal carnosine. Blindness incidence increased with advancing age, such as cataract and glaucoma, which are by far the commonest causes of blindness in our sample and in all age groups, glaucomatous neurodegeneration can be treated with developed NAC autoinduction prodrug eye drops equipped with corneal absorption promoters. The common blinding affections presenting in developed countries such as, senile macular degeneration, hereditary chorioretinal dystrophies, diabetic retinopathy are poorly represented in our current summary of vital-statistics and will be reported inherent in next N-acetylcarnosine ophthalmic drug studies.

Conclusion: The authors present evidence, about why only a certain kind of NAC is safe, and why only certain formulas designed by IVP for drug discovery are efficacious in the prevention and treatment of senile cataract for long-term use. Overall cumulated studies demonstrate that the designed by IVP new vision-saving drug NAC eye drops help the aging eye to recover by improving its clarity, glare sensitivity, color perception and overall vision.

Keywords: age-related ophthalmic diseases, cataract, disability-glare, halos, Halometer, visual-acuity, N-acetylcarnosine lubricant eye drops, repurchase behavior analysis, 50,000-patients’ compliance to self-administer eye drops