GLASSES pegged as the biggest breakthrough in half a century by the Oxford firm behind them are set to be sold in the UK for the first time.

Researchers at Adlens have developed spectacles that can have their focus adapted using special dials built into the frames.

This allows one pair to be used for everything from reading to driving.

And later this year the social enterprise is set to launch its newest “adjustable” glasses, developed in the city, which allow users to switch between their own different prescriptions.

Dr Graeme MacKenzie, director of regulatory and industry affairs at the company, said it was the biggest leap forward since the early development of modern bifocal lenses in the late 1950s. Adlens has not previously been able to sell its glasses “over the counter” due to regulations in the UK on adjustable lenses.

But its latest product – Adlens Focuss – cycles between different prescriptions instead of allowing the wearer to ‘fine-tune’ the focus, meaning it can be sold by opticians.

Dr MacKenzie said: “People usually have one pair of prescription glasses and then up to 10 pairs of reading glasses, for reading, driving, or using the computer.

“But our glasses let people switch between the different focuses.”

He said earlier models of the company’s adjustable glasses sold for less than £20 in the United States, where it has also been trialling its Focuss lenses.

They are expected to be fully launched globally next month, as well as in the UK towards the end of the year.

In America – expected to be the most lucrative market – they are likely to sell for about $1,000 (£640) at first, although Dr MacKenzie said prices would fall as the technology was more widely adopted.

But Dr MacKenzie added: “We are very excited about the launch in the UK, because we are based here.”

Adlens employs about 60 people in Oxford across an innovation centre in First Turn, a £1.2m manufacturing site in Osney Lane and a global headquarters in Park End Street. It also has offices in Tokyo, Japan, and Boston, in the United States.

It was founded by British philanthropist and businessman James Chen in 2005, who has continued to fund the company to the tune of millions of pounds.

The firm’s adjustable lenses are based on technology originally developed by nuclear physicist Dr Joshua Silver, of New College, Oxford.

Dr Silver, Professor of Physics at the Oxford university, filled lenses with a transparent fluid, enabling the focus to be changed.

He now leads the Centre for Vision in the Developing World.

Adlens’ more recent glasses use technology which allows two lenses to slide across one another to change focus.