NOVELIA®: ENGINEERING PRECISION, PROTECTION AND GLOBAL ADOPTION IN PRESERVATIVE-FREE MULTIDOSE EYE DROP DELIVERY

Severine Duband and Natalia Zabala of Nemera discuss the role of multidose preservative-free eyedroppers in the ophthalmic market, highlighting the advantages of Nemera’s Novelia®platform, including its non-return valve system, the sustainability of multidose delivery and the platform’s growing success within the Chinese market.

ENGINEERING MICROBIOLOGICAL INTEGRITY IN PRESERVATIVE-FREE MULTIDOSE DELIVERY
Most ophthalmic eye drops still rely on preservatives to maintain sterility. Benzalkonium chloride, the most widely used preservative, has long been associated with ocular surface toxicity, particularly in chronic conditions such as glaucoma and dry eye disease.1 As treatment durations increase and patients remain on therapy for longer periods, the tolerability of preserved formulations has come undergrowing scrutiny.
Advances in primary container closure systems have enabled the development of multidose preservative-free (MDPF) solutions designed to maintain sterility without chemical preservatives, while continuing to support ocular surface health and long-term treatment sustainability.2 However, while more than half of currently available MDPF bottles rely on 0.22 μm sterile mesh filters to prevent microbial ingress and manage air compensation, research has questioned the robustness of filter-based systems under real-world conditions.3 Because these filters are porous by design, they do not provide a continuous physical barrier, potentially introducing vulnerabilities during extended in-use periods and repeated patient handling.
Nemera’s alternative approach is based on a non-return valve system combined with a dedicated silicone air-compensation membrane. The non-return valve ensures that no contaminated liquid can be reintroduced into the container after a drop has been dispensed, completely removing the need to filter the liquid pathway.
Air intake occurs via a separate venting system that incorporates PureFlow® technology – a solid, homogenous silicone membrane. Unlike bacterial mesh filters, this material is non-porous and contains no holes, allowing its permeability characteristics to be precisely engineered while maintaining a continuous physical barrier against contamination.
An independent review of MDPF systems concluded that Novelia® provides “the largest amount of published information regarding the safety and sterility of these MDPF packages” and demonstrated resilience under both expected real-world microbial challenges and more severe
stress scenarios.4

NOVELIA®: DESIGNING FOR DOSE PRECISION AND PATIENT CONTROL
In 2020, Nemera’s R&D department, the Insight Innovation Centre, conducted a qualitative study involving patients and healthcare professionals to explore real-world administration challenges in dry eye and glaucoma therapies, in which interviews consistently revealed a perceived lack of control during eye drop administration.
Both dry eye and glaucoma patients highlighted difficulty in reliably delivering a single drop as a primary frustration. Participants reported that multiple drops could be expelled unintentionally or that leakage could occur before actuation. These issues became increasingly pronounced towards the end of a product’s life, when higher squeeze force was required and patients felt progressively less confident in controlling dose delivery.
While these challenges may represent inconvenience for some dry eye patients, they are more consequential for glaucoma patients, who may question whether the correct therapeutic dose has been administered and worry about costly medication being depleted prematurely. Correct instillation remains a significant barrier in chronic ophthalmology, with studies indicating that a substantial proportion of glaucoma patients struggle with proper administration technique.1 Therefore, an intuitive, easy-to-use delivery system plays a critical role in supporting adherence, reinforcing patient confidence and ensuring long-term treatment continuity.
Novelia®’s PureFlow® technology not only functions as an air-compensation system but also as a controlled flow mechanism (Figure 1). The integrated design avoids uncontrolled multidrop delivery and supports the consistent release of a single calibrated drop at each actuation,
regardless of bottle fill level.
To accommodate formulation diversity, Nemera offers three PureFlow® variants engineered for a wide viscosity range, from highly fluid to highly viscous solutions. In addition, five valve sizes are available, enabling precise adjustment of drop size according to product specifications and therapeutic requirements. This modular architecture allows pharmaceutical partners to tailor device performance to the needs of their formulations while enhancing patient confidence, reducing frustration and limiting unnecessary medication waste.
As ophthalmic pipelines increasingly incorporate higher-viscosity systems designed to improve ocular residence time and therapeutic efficacy, delivery platforms must maintain precision, microbiological integrity and usability across diverse formulation profiles. For Nemera, “We Put Patients First” is more than a corporate statement; it reflects a structured and systematic development philosophy. Integrating patient insights early in the design phase enables behavioural considerations to be incorporated into product specifications, risk management processes and user-focused failure mode and effects analysis. By embedding patient needs and practical constraints into formal quality frameworks, Nemera ensures that usability is addressed alongside microbiological safety and mechanical performance.

To read the full article: https://www.nemera.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Ophthalmic-ONdD-Mar-2026-Issue-183-Nemera.pdf