Help is near for people with worsening vision. A pharmaceutical company called Allergan has developed eye drops that can treat a condition called presbyopia. This is close-up blurred vision. It usually starts when people get into their 40s. It affects over a billion people around the globe. About 16 per cent of these cannot afford glasses. The eye drops are called Vuity. Allergan called them "innovative". It said Vuity is "the first and only FDA-approved eye drop to treat age-related Blurry Near Vision (presbyopia) in adults". It added they "may help patients…see up close".

Presbyopia makes it difficult to focus on things up close. Sufferers make the text on phone and computer screens bigger. Allergan said its eye drops could help people see three lines on an eye chart that would normally be blurred. Clinical studies showed that people who used Vuity every day did better on eye chart tests. They achieved a 3-line gain or more when reading a near-vision eye chart. The eye drops work by reducing the eye's pupil size. This helps people to focus on text and objects that are near them. A user who tested the drops said they helped him to see smaller letters.