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Glaukos targets global glaucoma market
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Glaukos is aiming to tackle the glaucoma market with micro-devices that include the iStent and iDose devices, CEO Tom Burns said at the 37th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.
“Our mission is aspirational,” he said. “As a company we are seeking to transform glaucoma therapy, and in doing so we want to transform ourselves into a hybrid surgical-pharmaceutical-medical device company that is creating powerful platforms in sustained pharmaceutical therapy, medical devices and diagnostic platforms.”
More than 500,000 iStent and iStent inject devices have been implanted into patients in 17 worldwide market, and there are several new products in development for the treatment of ocular hypertension and glaucoma.
The iStent infinite, a three-stent system designed for the treatment of advanced and refractory glaucoma, is currently enrolling patients in a phase 2 study to support 510(k) submission, while the iStent SA is being developed to be a stand-alone procedure rather than having to be implanted with cataract surgery, according to Burns.
The iDose intraocular implant, which delivers a continuous dose of travoprost, has shown positive phase 2 results in a clinical trial comparing it to timolol.
“Because it’s behind the cornea and goes into the eye intracamerally, it’s kind of behind the ‘iron curtain’ and you don’t have to use very much medication to get dramatic results and drops in pressure,” Burns said.
An average IOP reduction of 7.9 mm Hg to 8.5 mm Hg has been recorded in study results so far.
With a glaucoma market of more than 8 million patients, which is expected to continue to expand, Glaukos is working toward changing the standard of care to include microinvasive stents and medication delivery devices.
“We are all about creating a portfolio of micro-stents or flow stents, and we are trying to develop these so we can cover the full range of glaucoma disease state severity,” Burns said. – by Rebecca L. Forand
Reference:
Burns T. Glaukos. Presented at: 37th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference; Jan. 7-10, 2019; San Francisco.