Dr Junsuke Akura founded Frontier Vision Inc. for the development and distribution of a cataract surgery simulator under the name “Kitaro”. Kitaro was marketed across the world via distribution agents in the EU, USA, Korea, India, Singapore, China, and Colombia.
With the funds raised from IOL development supporters, Dr Akura began the development of an accommodative intraocular lens (A-IOL).
The prototype of the A-IOL (M-ring) was prepared and subjected to animal studies at the laboratory of Professor Naganobu at Miyazaki University’s Veterinary Hospital. To accelerate the development of the A-IOL, Dr Akura assumed the position of Professor at the Center for Promoting Next-Generation Highly Advanced Medicine at Tottori University Hospital.
The development of the A-IOL was adopted by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) as an A-STEP high-risk project. The R&D of the A-IOL was mainly undertaken by Frontier Vision Inc., Tottori University Hospital, Miyazaki University Veterinary Hospital, and Kunimune Inc; with Kimera Inc. and Meiho Co. Ltd. as the supporting companies.
AMED’s A-STEP Project was completed. In the same month, Dr Akura resigned from Tottori University.
Mirai Eye Inc. was founded to accelerate the commercialisation of the A-IOL, with Dr Akura serving as a shareholder in addition to serving as President & CEO of the corporation. The company began the development of the Simple-Move Lens (SML) and the Active-Move Lens (AML). Dr Akura, who believed that confirming the product’s safety in animal studies would be important, began to work as a researcher at the Miyazaki University Veterinary Hospital.
The development of the SML was presented by Dr Akura at the 122nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Ophthalmological Society.
The pre-clinical study of the SML was done in India. However, we could not proceed to the clinical stage due to a protocol failure.
The development of the A-IOL was halted just as the pre-clinical study was starting to use the optimized SML in India. This was due to the sudden beginning of COVID-19 pandemic. During this period we started to develop eight surgical instruments.
Mirai Eye Inc. received a second-class manufacturing and distribution authorization license for medical devices.
Among eight, three types of surgical instruments (eyelid speculum, eye drape, and pupil expander) have been developed and are planned to be sold globally soon.
