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Despite difficulties, time for ophthalmic innovation is now, speaker says
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CHICAGO — While there are difficulties for those interested in ophthalmic innovation, a speaker here said today’s climate is conducive for the right ideas.
“While times have changed, they have never been better,” William J. Link, PhD, managing director of Versant Ventures, said at the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit preceding the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting.
Dr. Link outlined the number of steps involved from invention through global marketing of a product, a process that generally take about 12 years. Failure can occur at any step along the way.
“Be willing to fail,” he said, “because you will.”
Dr. Link said he has worked with companies that developed more than 50 novel products to go along with “an unknown number of failures.”
A successful launch requires cooperation between four key constituents, Dr. Link said: inventors, early adopters, financial partners and industry leaders.
Each has vital roles to play, he said. The inventors must develop a unique, protectable idea; early adopters need to be medical experts who can offer constructive and critical advice; financial partners need to be a “thought partner” that will not panic with funding; and industry leaders must be able to offer a global market presence.
With the possibility for failure present at every stage and from all constituents, Dr. Link said there is no way to guarantee success but there is a way to increase the likelihood of failure.
“Be aggressive. Be assertive. Don’t be arrogant,” he said. “If you’re passive, you’ll fail. If you’re arrogant, you’re likely to fail.”
- Disclosure: Dr. Link is managing director of Versant Ventures.