On December 17, 2021, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) issued the registration certificate for the MIOK Keratoprosthesis that is an innovative artificial cornea manufactured by Beijing Microkpro Medical Instrument Co., Ltd.
The MIOK Keratoprosthesis is an artificial cornea with independent intellectual property rights. It is made of synthetic materials, and does not rely on any donor cornea materials in its construction or implantation. It saves the time cost for waiting a donor cornea, opens up a "green channel" for the blind patients in urgent need of donor corneas, and alleviates the shortage of corneal donor materials in China. The MIOK Keratoprosthesis has a wide range of indications for surgery, providing a new resort to restore vision to patients contraindicated by traditional corneal transplantation.
In 2022, the MIOK Keratoprosthesis won the prize of “China's 2021 Important Medical Progress” issued by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the 1st prize of “Science and Technology Progress Award” issued by the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission. It was also included in the "Top 100 New Technologies and Products of Zhongguancun Forum 2022".
The MIOK Keratoprosthesis is indicated for patients with bilateral corneal blindness in cases where a corneal transplantation is hard to succeed, including patients with corneal graft failure(s), significant corneal scarring and vascularization after chemical burns, thermal burns or explosive injuries, symblepharon, severe autoimmune diseases (Stevens-Johnson syndrome, pemphigoid, etc.), and/or end-stage dry eye, etc. Its launch brings hope to restore vision for patients with end-stage corneal blindness.
The achievements that the MIOK Keratoprosthesis makes in the field of artificial cornea benefit from the spirit of "innovate to change", and its scientific research value is highly valued, because it is not a "corner overtaking" to the research ideas in the developed countries, but globally original from concept to application. At the annual conference of ophthalmology, Prof. Yifei Huang, the chief physician of the Chinese PLA General Hospital (Hospital 301), ever said: "The MIOK Keratoprosthesis will fill the gap in the artificial cornea field in China". The hope of helping the blind see the light will eventually be realized by the power of science and technology.