OIS Podcast | Ophthalmology's leading Podcast

Emmett Cunningham, MD, Gil Kliman, MD, and Bill Link, PhD, co-chairs of OIS, talk about device funding, myopia, and the Masters of the Industry following a successful OIS@ASCRS.

Gil Kliman, managing director at InterWest Partners, reviews his role at the upcoming OIS@ASCRS, including an overview of anterior segment innovation and a discussion on lower myopia.

Longtime eye bank executive David Korroch, chief executive officer, Lions Medical Eye Bank, explains how eye banks have worked hard to meet – and even exceed – the demand for donated tissue. Korroch is the winner of this year’s Leonard Heise Award.

Mark S. Blumenkranz, MD, H. J. Smead Professor of Ophthalmology, Emeritus, delivers his State of Innovation address. You can guess what his assessment is, but we’ll give you a hint. It involves cool lasers.

OIS Co-Chair William J. Link, PhD walks us through OIS@ASCRS’ May 4 agenda, which takes place in LA. Link also explains why he Andy Corley and Richard Lindstrom, MD, formed Flying L Partners. Hear about the firm’s most recent investment.

From his clinic in South Dakota, Vance Thompson has served as an investigator in over 60 clinical trials. Thompson taps this experience to shed some light on new innovations being brought forth by Zeiss, Avedro, Allergan, and RxSight. He also offers a few insights on new advances coming down the pike.

In 2015, three patients who had a stem cell mixture injected in their eyes were severely injured. To try to prevent this from happening again, their treating physicians reached out to the FDA and clinical societies, and ultimately they wrote a paper for the New England Journal of Medicine to warn others about the dangers of these so-called treatments. In this podcast, one of the co-authors, Thomas...

Newly appointed President and CEO Nancy Lurker explains why she took over as CEO and President at pSivida and gives details on the company’s early clinical testing results in the recurrence of uveitis. Lurker hits upon filing for regulatory approval filings, building a sale team and operating a drug company at a time of political uncertainty.

Last month, Minnesota Eye Consultants announced it was working with private equity investor Waud Capital to create an entity that could build a national eye care provider. In part two of our interview with MEC founder Richard Lindstrom, MD, we discuss the impact similar consolidations could have on the sector.

Consolidation is coming to ophthalmology. Last month, Minnesota Eye Consultants agreed to partner with a private equity group to expand beyond the Twin Cities. In the first of a two-part podcast, founder Richard Lindstrom, MD, explains why the deal was done.

Cedric Francois, co-founder, CEO, and president of Apellis delivers an update on his start-up’s promising complement therapies. He also shares why he joined other Biotech CEOs and VCs in speaking against the proposed immigration restrictions.

On February 28, the National Eye Institute will host a webinar to introduce its 3D Retina Organoid Challenge. Its objective is simple: use $1 million in prize money to encourage researchers from multiple disciplines to create a critical tool for retinal research. The NEI’s Jessica Mazerik and Steve Becker share the details, which can also be found here.

Ophthalmology CEO turned VC Abbie Celniker, now a partner at Third Rock Ventures, discusses her role at the firm and reveals how it will invest its new $616 million fund.

With Novartis’ acquisition of Encore Vision setting the standard, CEO Jim McCollum and CSO Jerry Horn, MD, tell the tale of Presbyopia Therapies, a small start-up that is working to develop “lifestyle” eye drops that can help presbyopes read without assistance.

Frederic Guerard, head of Novartis’ ophthalmology franchise, explains why the global giant was the last strategic standing in the competitive bidding to acquire the promising, but very early stage, start-up. Novartis will resume testing of the new presbyopia-correcting ophthalmic solution, now dubbed UNR-844.

The threat of Medicare clamping down on drug prices has never loomed larger. Sanford Bernstein’s Ronny Gal and Liav Abraham of Citi gauge the risk and explain how ophthalmology drug companies might be impacted.

Christian Roesky, PhD, joins the OIS Podcast to explain why he became the new CEO and managing director of Novaliq GmbH, a specialty pharma company with a novel drug delivery platform technology that can make drugs more effective in treating ophthalmic disorders. He also delves into the company’s positive Phase II evaluating CyclASol in 207 patients with moderate-to-severe dry eye disease.

EyeGate CEO Stephen From reports positive results of Phase Ia/IIb trials of EGP-437, regulatory progress for its Ocular bandage gel, and potential fundraising plans.

KOLs, CEOs, and analysts say Ophthotech’s disappointing Fovista trials alter the landscape for companies developing new treatments for wet AMD. And all agree, the biggest losers in all of this are patients suffering from the disease.

Three-year-old TearSolutions hopes to pen a strong sequel to SARCode’s successful tale of a start-up developing the next new treatment for Dry Eye Disease. Tom Gadek, co-founder of SARCode, developer of lifitegrast (now Shire’s potential blockbuster Xiidra), takes over the company as it begins courting partners and investors.

Carl Zeiss Meditec continues to add top talent. Andrew Chang, who managed US sales at B&L, joins the growing group bringing him together with Unit Head Jim Mazzo.

This has been a busy year for Thomas Frinzi, senior vice president of Abbott’s vision business. He took the helm of Abbott Medical Optics in January. In July, the FDA approved the company’s promising new Tecnis Symfony IOL. Then Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $4 billion to acquire the vision device company in September. What’s next?

The election of Donald Trump had an immediate impact on our OIS Index. OIS writers and editors dig deeper, discussing what the long-term impact could be on drug prices, regulation and the ophthalmology’s bottom line?

Ophthalmology veteran Jim Mazzo has led companies of every size. Hear how those experiences are guiding him in his new post at Zeiss.

Gavin S. Herbert recalls what it took to make Allergan a success and how he helped build a Medtech industry in Southern California.