OIS Podcast | Ophthalmology's leading Podcast

OIS podcast host Paul Karpecki , OD, FAAO, caught up with OcuTerra Therapeutics CEO and CMO, Kerrie Brady and David Tanze r, MD, to discuss OcuTerra’s novel small molecule integrin inhibitor. Preclinical data impressed David enough to resign from his CMO role at Novartis to help develop OTT166, a topical agent that meets a clear unmet need for patients with moderately severe to severe nonprolifera...

Even the most groundbreaking device won’t go far if doctors can’t easily implement that device into their practice. MacuLogix co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Gregory Jackson, Ph. D., developed a novel instrument, AdaptDx, that could detect early-stage AMD by measuring dark adaptation speed. But it took a major design overhaul and the addition of an artificial intelligence-based testing age...

Adrienne Graves, PhD, former CEO of Santen, opened this panel discussion by reiterating a sentiment expressed by surgeons, innovators, and investors: we’re in the middle of a glaucoma renaissance. The release of new devices, instruments, and pharmaceuticals has led to improvements in surgical procedures and other treatment options that promise to improve the lives of glaucoma patients. For this we...

Many early-stage medical device start-ups seek acquisition to secure the financial and operational resources they need to obtain regulatory approval and secure market access. Michael Gertner, MD , founder and CEO of Olympic Ophthalmics , took the more difficult path: he developed and began commercialization of iTEAR®100 himself. His non-invasive neurostimulation device treats all types of dry eye...

Throughout his career, Ramin Valian , Vice President of International Glaucoma, Reimbursement Pipeline, for Allergan, has stayed by the side of his mentors. Fresh out of college, where he earned degrees in Middle Eastern studies and Russian, he shifted his goals from working at the U.S. Department of State to joining his older sister at Roche. After learning the pharmaceutical industry ropes as a...

You’ve got a game-changing product. They want to back innovators like you. What’s the secret to a happy marriage? More importantly, how to you get a first date? Recorded during OIS Retina@ASRS in San Antonio, Texas, five pharma and finance leaders discuss their current areas of interest, how to secure crucial series A funding, and what’s on the verge of disruption. Tune in today to discover: What’...

If you want to predict eye surgery’s future, ask someone who pioneered the techniques used today. For this week’s podcast, Firas Rahhal, MD spoke with OIS Lifetime Innovator Award recipient Stanley Chang, MD , at the recent ASRS meeting about how the techniques he pioneered in the 1980s and 1990s have come full circle.  Dr. Chang was the first to use perfluoropropane gas in the management of retin...

How many patients have chronic dry eye symptoms that persist after you’ve tried every available therapy? They may have an imbalance between the peripheral visual tracking system and central fixation.  Jeffrey Krall, OD , an optometrist in Mitchell, South Dakota, discovered the connection between this imbalance and the collection of symptoms associated with digital vision syndrome (DVS). He develop...

Baruch (Barry) Kupperman, MD, PhD , works as a consultant, professor, and benchtop scientist, but finds the most meaning in the dozens of patients he treats each week. With research interests in dry AMD and drug delivery, Dr. Kupperman held multiple roles in University of California Irvine’s Department of Ophthalmology before becoming the Roger F. Steinert Professor and Chair of the Department of...

You’ve got a great idea. Now what? It takes years of trial and error to move an ophthalmology product from concept to commercialization. But when you believe your technology could “change the future of cataract surgery,” you’ve got the motivation you need to keep moving forward.  After nearly a dozen prototypes, Lexington, Kentucky-based Gary Wortz, MD , Chief Medical Officer of Omega Ophthalmics...

Damon Burrows isn’t a scientist. And he didn’t start IACTA Pharmaceuticals, an early-stage drug development company, because he believed his discovery could change the world. He founded IACTA because he was free. Free from his role as general counsel at Scilex Pharmaceuticals. And free to bring life-changing ophthalmic therapies to market. When Scilex merged with Sorrento in 2019, he and a team of...

France-based Théa Laboratories may be only 27 years old, but its legacy goes back 150 years. It reaches back to the 1870s, when ophthalmologist Paul Chibret became fascinated with trachoma. He would later help found the French Society of Ophthalmology. Five generations of Chibret doctors and entrepreneurs later, the Chibret family’s passion for eye care has led to the development of one of Europe’...

With its high concentration of talented engineers, innovators, and entrepreneurs, it’s no surprise innovation is thriving in Israel. Home to a growing number of biotech and engineering firms, Israel has established a thriving ecosystem for ophthalmology startups. This week’s podcast shines a spotlight on that ecosystem, as host Suzana Nahum Zilberberg, Vice Chair of Bio-Light Life Sciences and co-...

Dutch Ophthalmic Research Center (DORC) is a world-leading retinal surgical instrument developer. Even so, CEO Pierre Billardon recognizes the company has a fair percentage of United States market share to obtain. To take the private equity-backed company through its next growth phase — the goal is to double its equity in three to five years — Pierre listened to DORC’s surgeon customers, strengthe...

Eric Schlumpf, president and CEO of Stuart Therapeutics , took a winding path to launch his South Florida-based eye care company.  Along the way, he met academic researchers studying a family of collagen mimetic peptides that appeared to have a powerful reparative effect on many human conditions, including several in ophthalmology. Eric and his leadership team have moved in one focused direction e...

Donald Korb ’s myopia hasn’t affected his renowned ability to observe and to see what’s next.   The renowned researcher, inventor and thought leader in both optometry and ophthalmology is known for discovering and naming Meibomian Gland Dysfunction(MGD), now recognized worldwide as the primary cause of dry eye, and giant papillary conjunctivitis(GPC), a complication from contact lens wear.  Those...

Visus Therapeutics has more than doubled its team in the past two years, including the appointment of six senior leaders in June. CEO Ben Bergo grew that team as the company’s lead product, brimochol, a prescription eye drop designed to correct near vision loss caused by presbyopia, approached data readouts in Phase II clinical trials.  As Visus prepares to move into Phase III studies later this y...

If it hasn’t happened yet, just wait: the day will come when you have to use a larger font on the computer or hold the phone farther away to read a message. That frustrating condition, presbyopia, is a $3-5 billion market with limited non-surgical treatment options. LENZ Therapeutics is one company on a path to change that. In this podcast, president and CEO Eef Schimmelpennink speaks with host Eh...

Jeannette Bankes, President and General Manager for the Global Surgical Franchise at Alcon, learned early in her career that she had an interest not only in the complexity of vaccine and pharmaceutical development, but also in the business that drove that development. Her combination of scientific passion and business expertise led Jeannette to become one of the first women with a scientist-techni...

Legendary retinal surgeon and innovator Steve Charles, MD, has a long list of accomplishments. He’s performed more than 40,000 vitreoretinal surgeries, lectured in more than 50 countries, and operated in 25 of those countries. He’s also authored 150-plus medical articles and the go-to text, Vitreous Microsurgery , which is coming out in its sixth edition (with a complete rewrite of every chapter)....

Paul Ryb was a very successful investment banker when he suddenly lost his central vision at age 37, due to dry AMD.  In this unique episode of the OIS Podcast, Ryb tells our host Rob Rothman, MD, that the sudden change presented a big problem for him because of his fast-paced life. He said, “I had a lot of risk profile responsibilities, and it was life changing for me in not just my professional...

In this episode of the OIS Podcast, Gleeson tells our host Paul Karpecki, OD that early on he wanted to be an architect. Although he didn’t continue in that direction, Mark describes parallels between being an architect and developing pharmaceuticals.  “Pharmaceutical and drug development are very similar to architecture in that you have to think long term, you have to understand what the customer...

Thomas Ruggia, President & CEO of Samsara Vision, has used his experiences as a a lifelong athlete to create a path to success. Part of that experience comes from playing football in college and now as an Ironman triathlete.  In this episode of the OIS Podcast, Ruggia tells our host Ehsan Sadri, MD, that having “vision for what great looks like” and a “relentless work ethic” are top priority o...

Euan Thomson, CEO of Zeiss Meditec, Inc., is passionate about using large-scale collaborations and large-scale sharing of data, with machine learning, to extract insights he says “will really move the needle on healthcare.” In this episode of the OIS Podcast, Thomson and our host Ranya Habash, MD, discuss how the Covid pandemic accelerated the use of telemedicine and remote collaboration, and the...

John Snisarenko, COO, Oyster Point Pharmaceuticals, developed his interest in eye care at age 13, upon being fitted with contact lenses by an optometrist.  That interest led him through positions with several eye care companies, and eventually to Oyster Point Pharma, which Snisarenko says has “a very unique approach to dry eye.” In this episode of the OIS Podcast, Snisarenko talks with our host Pa...