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Chairman highlights 2016 industry highlights at OIS

Issue: November 25, 2016

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CHICAGO — The past year has seen a number of important approvals and promising study progress in both biotechnology and ophthalmic devices, Emmett T. Cunningham Jr., MD, PhD, MPH, told the more than 900 attendees at the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit in his “Chairman’s 2016 Year in Review.”

Leading approvals this year include Shire’s Xiidra (lifitegrast), which is the first approval of a dry eye treatment in nearly 15 years, according to Cunningham. In addition, cross-linking from Avedro, which has been available internationally for some time, was approved for use in the United States.

Drugs such as Bausch + Lomb’s latanoprostene bunod and Aerie’s Roclatan, both for glaucoma treatment, are among those that have shown promising phase 3 study results and are tracking toward approval. Roclatan, a combination of Rhopressa and latanoprost, looks to be a “huge innovation” in the market, Cunningham said.

In addition, Actemra (tocilizumab, Genentech), Medidur (pSivida), Vekacia (cyclosporine, Santen) and Fovista (Ophthotech ) have all shown positive phase 3 results .

In addition, Aura has a product that delivers a “laser-activated, light-activated therapeutic payload for ocular melanoma.” It has had dramatic results in animal testing that will hopefully transfer to humans, Cunningham said.

On the device side of things, there have been four important premarket approvals in the past year, including the Raindrop inlay (ReVision Optics) and the CyPass micro-stent (Alcon).

“This, I think, is clearly going to be a huge market, MIGS. It’s taking a glaucoma surgery which is a high morbidity procedure to a low morbidity procedure,” Cunningham said. – by Rebecca L. Forand

Reference:

Cunningham ET. Welcome and Chairman’s 2016 Year in Review. Presented at: Ophthalmology Innovation Summit; Oct. 13, 2016; Chicago.

Disclosure: Cunningham reports he is a partner at Clarus Ventures.