Hard to imagine, but in a Weekly Standard piece, Ike Brannon makes the case that this is true: We could save $2 billion by adopting a more efficient eye dropper to dispense the drops doctors prescribe for their patients. Brannon writes that the market in eye drops is worth $3.4 billion annually.
Researchers estimate that patients waste at least half of all of this eye drop medications. A study by University of Michigan researchers estimate that the Veteran’s Administration alone would save over $1 billion a year from the use of a precise eye dropper—as would Medicare Part D.
The idea of a precise eye dropper isn’t new. Alcoa developed such a device in the 1990s but corporate leadership quickly surmised that it would reduce sales. So they shelved it.
Today, a startup called Eyenovia has taken that technology—which resembles the mechanism used in laser jet printing—and improved upon it; the company is in the process of obtaining FDA approval for the technology.