RICHMOND HILL, ON., July 29, 2019—With the rising levels of myopia predicted to affect nearly 5 billion people by 20501, it’s becoming more important for organizations to band together to fight this public health epidemic. CooperVision has supported the Our Children’s Vision campaign for the last two years by donating a percentage of its CooperVision MiSight® 1 day2 contact lens sales to the organization, and has extended the program to recommit to the cause. Through its continued support, CooperVision expects to contribute up to US$500,000 from its global MiSight® sales to Our Children’s Vision by the end of 2020.
“We firmly believe having strong partnerships in place can get us further than any individual effort,” said Yvette Waddell, CEO of the Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation, the founder and manager of the Our Children’s Vision campaign. “The assistance we’re receiving from CooperVision will help us reach more children and provide greater access to eye health services in underserved communities, as well as help us advocate on behalf of a vulnerable demographic to ensure child eye health is integrated into country and education policies.”
Our Children’s Vision is a large global network of partners dedicated to child eye health. Its goal is to bring together individuals, governments, development agencies and the public and private sectors to reach 50 million children worldwide by 2020.
“Vision impairment is a disability overlooked on lists of public health priorities, but clear vision is necessary for children to thrive at school, play safely and connect with family and friends,” said Dr. Juan Carlos Aragón, President of CooperVision’s Specialty EyeCare Division. “Myopia progression and its increasing prevalence is an epidemic that will threaten economic productivity and have social implications. That is why we are working diligently on the best ways to help manage the progression of the condition in children to help them see clearly, minimize the risk of potential ocular disease related to high levels of myopia and live brightly.”
CooperVision’s innovative MiSight® 1 day product is the world’s first 1-day soft contact lens proven to substantially slow the progression of myopia in children2. A landmark global double-masked, prospective, randomized multicenter clinical trial has shown the significant impact of a contact lens management approach to slowing the progression of myopia in children. After year three, myopia progression slowed in children wearing the MiSight® 1 day contact lens: 59 percent as measured by mean cycloplegic spherical equivalent (SE) and 52 percent as measured by mean axial elongation of the eye when compared to the children in the control group wearing a single vision 1-day contact lens3.
During the course of its relationship, CooperVision’s support has helped Our Children’s Vision reach millions of children to assist with their eye health and distribute millions of glasses to those in need.
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1 Holden et al, - Global Prevalence of myopia and high myopia and temporal trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology 2016. 123(5):1036-1042
2 MiSight® 1 day contact lenses are currently available for sale in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Nordic Region, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. MiSight® 1 day is not approved in the United States.
3 Chamberlain P. et al. A 3-Year Randomized Clinical Trial of MiSight Lenses for Myopia Control Optom Vis Sci 2019; Vol 96(8). July 2019.
About CooperVision
CooperVision, a unit of The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO), is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of soft contact lenses. The Company produces a full array of monthly, two-week and daily disposable contact lenses, all featuring advanced materials and optics. CooperVision has a strong heritage of solving the toughest vision challenges such as astigmatism and presbyopia; and offers the most complete collection of spherical, toric and multifocal products available. Through a combination of innovative products and focused practitioner support, the company brings a refreshing perspective to the marketplace, creating real advantages for customers and wearers. For more information, visit coopervision.com.
About The Cooper Companies
The Cooper Companies, Inc. ("Cooper") is a global medical device company publicly traded on the NYSE (NYSE:COO). Cooper operates through two business units, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. CooperVision brings a refreshing perspective on vision care with a commitment to developing a wide range of high-quality products for contact lens wearers and providing focused practitioner support. CooperSurgical is committed to advancing the health of women, babies and families with its diversified portfolio of products and services focusing on medical devices and fertility & genomics. Headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., Cooper has more than 12,000 employees with products sold in over 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.coopercos.com.
About Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation
Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation is a global non-profit, non-governmental organisation who since 1998 has delivered sustainable eye care services, education and training programs in over 60 countries, providing eye care to over 13 million people at more than 400 eye care sites and training 250,000 eye care personnel.
We believe sight is a fundamental right for everyone, everywhere. Globally there are 1.2 billion people who are blind or vision impaired because they don’t have access to eye care. Our mission is to develop solutions for vision care and eliminate vision impairment and avoidable blindness, thereby reducing poverty and suffering.
Media Contact
Mike McDougall, APR, Fellow PRSA
McDougall Communications for CooperVision, Inc.
mike@mcdougallpr.com or +1-585-545-1815 (mobile)