Nominated for the European Inventor Award 2023 for treament for DME

Þorsteinn Loftsson and Einar Stefánsson are nominated as the inventors of the 2023 European Award for developing a nanotechnology-based eye treatment to make the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME) easier and improve the quality of life of patients suffering from retinal diseases.

The announcement, which also shows that 37 million people worldwide have DME, and it is the leading cause of blindness in diabetics, according to the International Diabetes Association.

The treatment of DME has so far involved injecting drugs into the back of the eye, but Loftsson and Stefánsson have developed a technique that allows the development of drugs in the form of eye drops that can be ferried to the back of the eye. This makes the treatment available to a larger group of patients.

For this invention, Þorsteinn and Einar are nominated for an award as the inventors of the 2023 European Award in the category of research, along with two other actors selected from  this year’s 600 nominees.

Achieved the "impossible"

Loftsson and Stefánsson hope to reform the way in which patients can be treated for eye diseases and reached earlier, even in rural areas and developing countries.

Loftsson worked for decades as a professor at the Faculty of Pharmacology at the University of Iceland and other universities until 2020. In addition, he was one of the founders of the company Oculis in 2016.

Stefánsson is a professor emeritus at the University of Iceland and has been the head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Landspítali Hospital since 1989. He says the invention is the result of decades of research.

“Some of our colleagues, who could be called the main authorities in this field, have repeatedly claimed in speech and literature, even in the last 10 years, that we have achieved the impossible,” says Stefánsson, who stated that several studies have been conducted showing that this new technology works.