Ois Podcast

OIS Podcast Host Tom Salemi Speaks with Investors Greg Grunberg, MD, and Firas Rihhal, MD, as well as OIS Contributors Richard Mark Kirkner and Bérénice Magistretti about some of the key takeaways for investors, physicians and patients.

This week the OIS Podcast skims the ocular surface with two interviews. First, we talk with Amy Gallant Sullivan, executive director of the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS), about her organization’s work in raising awareness about ocular surface disease and dry eye. TFOS and the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research sponsored a congressional briefing on dry eye in Washington, DC, last week. Then, Purdue University researcher Chi Hwan Lee, PhD, explains why Google and Alcon inspired him and his team to develop the glucose-sensing contact lens. What’s next for the early stage project?

With Oyster Point Pharma announcing results from the Phase IIb PEARL study, company president and CEO Jeffrey Nau, PhD, talks with OIS Podcast about what the findings mean for OC-02, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist the company is developing to treat the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. The study met both primary endpoints by showing a statistically significant improvement in signs and symptoms compared with control. Top-line data from the study will be presented this weekend at the American-European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery Summer Symposium in Deer Valley, UT. OC-02 is delivered as a nasal spray and stimulates the trigeminal parasympathetic pathway to activate the glands responsible for producing the eye’s natural tear film.

In this podcast, John Berdahl, MD, of Vance Thompson Vision highlights the role mentors have played throughout his career including guiding him into ophthalmology and convincing him to start a company. He also speaks to why game-changing innovation is more difficult to do.

Ask renowned vitreoretinal surgeon and inventor Steve Charles, MD, if he considers himself a surgeon or engineer first and he'll answer - both. In this OIS Podcast, Dr. Charles says the terms "inventor" and "innovator" aren't job titles. Innovation and inventing are what you get when insightful people commit themselves to a lifetime of learning in engineering and medicine. Dr. Charles gives his view of the future of innovation in the US. Here's a hint. You won't need to wear shades.

The last time we connected with Sean Ianchulev, MD, MPH, he shared Transcend's ultimately winning story. Now, he's the CEO and CMO of Eyenovia, a four-year-old company that's developing a line of therapeutics for Glaucoma, Dry Eye, Mydriasis, and Myopia. The company says its high-precision microdosing can deliver smaller doses with greater effect by uniformly coating the corneal surface rather than the conjunctiva to reduce collateral tissue exposure and focus on the cornea where 80% of intraocular drug penetration occurs. By reformulating generic compounds like latanaprost into microdose versions, Eyenovia is advancing its two lead assets for glaucoma and mydriasis into Phase III clinical programs and preparing registration studies for a third OTC product for dry eye. Eyenovia is expected to complete all three development programs through registration by 2020. The company's delivery device also is able to track dosages, giving patients, physicians, and caregivers the ability to closely tr

Hear the latest from OIS events as the OIS Podcast connects with Tom Frinzi and Joseph Boorady, the new leadership at Johnson & Johnson Vision. Next, CEO Jeffrey Nau introduces Oyster Point to OIS while Rob Thornhill, CEO of Tear Film Innovations, explains his company's treatment for Meibomian Gland Disorder.

Nicox has had quite a year, bringing two new ophthalmology projects to the market through partnerships with Bausch + Lomb and Eyevance Pharmaceuticals. So what's next for the global company? CEO Michele Garufi provides answers. James V. Mazzo, global president for Carl Zeiss Meditec's Strategic Business Unit Ophthalmic Devices, sits down with us at OIS@ASCRS to talk about his three years at the company and what the future might bring.

The OIS Podcast returns with a double feature. Avedro CEO Reza Zadno talks about the company's latest $25 million round. Also, Bill Meury, CCO of Allergan, visits at OIS@ASCRS to talk about the company's appetite for acquiring innovation. You can watch our April 12 interview with Dr. Zadno at OIS@ASCRS here. You can also watch the podcast interview with Bill Meury, which was conducted at OIS@ASCRS.

Whitney Hauser, OD, has built a very visible brand as the Dry Eye Coach. With a website, podcasts, and sizable following on social media, she is building a platform that can help promote new treatments and fellow eye care providers. In this podcast, Dr. Hauser discusses new technology that can help treat patients. But she also shares how social media can help build and maintain a practice.

Al Waterhouse, President and COO of AcuFocus, tells the OIS Podcast why the company opted to sell its former flagship product to focus on IOLs. In this discussion, he discusses some of the headwinds in the corneal inlay market. Waterhouse also shares a few details on structure of the sale, which makes AcuFocus in interested partner in Kamra's future success.

SightLife Surgical in 2016 spun out of the well-known SightLife eye bank, capitalized by Flying L Partners. Two years later, Monty Montoya, president and CEO, explains what the start-up is doing to build a new market in cornea products. In this podcast, Montoya discusses the Kamra acquisition and hints at news he'll be releasing at OIS@ASCRS.

The last time OIS Podcast talked with David Muller, he was leaving Avedro to start a new company. Two years later, Allotex has raised capital from a strategic investor and is preparing to enter clinical trials in Europe.

Sue Washer, AGTC president and CEO, has joined the board of directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). In this podcast, she talks about how she'll fulfill her duties for the biotech advocacy organization.

Robert Dempsey, head of Shire's global ophthalmics franchise, will be a headliner at next week's OIS Launch Dry Eye Innovation Dinner held during the SECO 2018 meeting. In this podcast, Dempsey discusses the importance optometrists are playing in Shire's strategy

OIS - the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit - is introducing a new OIS Launch program to raise awareness and inform early adopters on recently launched and soon to be approved therapies. The inaugural OIS Launch is an invitation-only dinner program led by Paul Karpecki, OD, Joe Boorady, OD, and Emmett Cunningham, MD, who have developed a program to feature select companies with emerging dry eye therapies - followed by a panel of thought leaders to discuss and debate the benefits and advantages of each. For details go to https://ois.net/ois-launch-2018/.

New CEO Antony Mattessich says Ocular Therapeutix has learned its mistakes after receiving two CRLs from the FDA. With new leadership and a clear vision, the company is ready to push forward as a full-fledged biopharmaceutical company.

A veteran of bioelectronic medicine, Khalid Ishaque joined Pixium Vision four years ago after recognizing the promise of using implantable devices to restore vision. Today, the company is developing not one - but two - technologies that could help restore sight.

Apple made headlines with a promise to spend repatriated dollars on R&D in the US. In this week’s podcast we talk with three Wall Street analysts to understand what we can expect to see from pharma and Medtech companies following the monster acquisitions of Juno, Kite et al. What ophthalmology companies might be acquisition targets? Will Medtech companies follow suit?

Cedric Francois, president and CEO, discusses his debut performance at JP Morgan in which he laid out the company’s plans for a Phase III trial of APL-2, the promising treatment for geographic atrophy. Francois shared the details of the trial, talked about going public, and shared one of the least recognized – but most important – challenges facing biopharma companies.