Did you miss this summer’s Ophthalmology Technology Forum (OTF)? Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered.
The two-day meeting, held annually in Newport Beach, California, wrapped up with a discussion on the state of the next frontier of retina diagnostics and treatment, covering issues that were explored and highlighted throughout the meeting.
Tell me about this session.
Titled Retina: The Next Frontier, this session featured a lineup of top industry professionals:
- Moderator: Baruch (Barry) Kuppermann, MD, PhD, Steinert Endowed Professor; chair, Department of Ophthalmology; director, Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, University of California, Irvine
- Mayssa Attar, PhD, senior vice president, R&D, Bausch + Lomb
- David Esposito, CEO, ONL Therapeutics, Inc.
- Francisco (Paco) J. López, MD, PhD, group medical director, Head Retina Section, Eye Care Development, Abbvie
- John Pollack, MD, chief medical officer, jCyte, Inc.
- Richard Small, CEO, Neurotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
So what’s driving innovation in retina treatments right now?
The panelists highlighted a key shift towards durable, long-term drug delivery.
Whether that means in-office single-administration treatments, drops, or implantable inserts, many new treatments and those in the pipeline focus on reducing the treatment burden on patients.
What are some of the major challenges?
A nonlinear product development process, in some cases.
Stem cell products are “not for the faint of heart,” stated John Pollack, CEO of jCyte—which is currently recruiting patients for its phase 2 study of JC02-88, a single intravitreal Injection of 8.8 million (M) jCell (famzeretcel) in retinitis pigmentosa (RP).
“[Chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC)] is a huge part of everything, but it’s just that much more complex with cell therapy,” he said.
So what does that mean for new therapies?
Bausch + Lomb spends quite a bit of time “really early on, taking into consideration how the global regulators will look into things,” noted Mayssa Attar, PhD, senior vice president, R&D.
“It’s the best way we can mitigate [approval and reimbursement challenges] from a strategic standpoint.”
What about AI? That was also a big theme at the conference.
That’s right—and it’s a big theme in retina development. From automated diabetic retinopathy screening to AI-enabled optical coherence tomography (OCT) segmentation for geographic atrophy, the technology is enhancing early detection and streamlining clinical development.
AI is also being used to accelerate patient recruitment for trials through aggregated patient data and identifying patients with faster rates of progression.
Any concerns about this?
“At the end of the day, who’s going to pay for it and what type of return will they get?” Richard Small of Neurotech noted in an interview with Glance. “If it makes the practice more efficient, you can show that there’s actually a financial benefit—that’s really going to be the key.”
Anything else?
While gene therapy remains an exciting innovation, industry leaders pointed out its slow uptake due to high costs and reimbursement challenges.
Despite all of this, optimism at OTF was high, and several panelists expressed aspirations to develop treatments that go beyond slowing progression, aiming to cure retina diseases altogether.
See here for all coverage from this year’s (and last year’s) meeting.