Ois Podcast

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 career but also my private investment career.”Upon being seen by a top eyecare professional at Moorfields Hospital, he was told nothing could be done for the condition, which he found surprising and distressing.However, Ryb then made contact with a charitable organization, Blind in Business, which he says began the next chapter of his life. “They had solutions for what I basically term affectionately as the ability to live and succeed with sight loss,” Ryb said. “And that kind of positive energy is exactly what I needed to hear at that moment.”That positivity led him back into sports, where he had succeeded to the poi

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 needs are, what the environment is going to be like both from a regulatory as well as a payer perspective. Then you put the plans in place and go through the process to make sure everyone does their job, and ultimately have a sign off and approval.”Gleeson also talks about making big career moves and gives insight into drug development challenges and opportunities. Dr. Karpecki asks about AZR-MD-001, Azura’s lead product candidate, for use in meibomian gland dysfunction. Gleeson explains that the company is looking at MGD from a unique perspective, as a condition that should be treated like a skin disease. AZR-MD-001

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 of a good entrepreneur, which he got from his football days. Family was another major influence in Ruggia’s life. “As the brother of a special needs person you learn to have a deep degree of compassion but also a sense of purpose”.Ruggia also talks about his excitement at the prospect of rolling out the next generation of Samsara Vision’s implantable miniature telescope, the SING IMT. Click play to hear Tom Ruggia’s fascinating story about growing up a self-proclaimed “Jersey guy” and how sports led to a career in eye care!

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 trends that may continue going forward. Thomson says artificial intelligence is very logical for use in ophthalmology, due to the number of images used, but also because there is “less of a barrier to entry” for AI here than in some other fields. He also says telehealth will have a role with remote testing and monitoring. Thomson said Zeiss sees digital technologies as the future, both from a device and platform standpoint, and said, “When I think about digital it really is the ability to connect from anywhere, operate in a different way, streamline your workflow, and then ultimately when you do have data at scale and

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 Paul Karpecki, OD, about building a startup, moving through a successful IPO, and getting to a position of having a product ready to commercialize such as Oyster Point has done with its nasal spray OC-01. He said, “Be prepared to roll up your sleeves, and sometimes you’re building the plane as you fly it.”Snisarenko also talks about the importance of developing a good corporate culture, and says at Oyster Point two main credos are:Follow the scienceThink about the patient first“If you do those two right,” he said, “Follow the science and really follow the patient journey, the other things fall into place.”Click play to h

Chuck Hess, VP & General Manager, US Surgical, Bausch + Lomb, says the partnership between clinicians and industry in ophthalmology has been a fruitful relationship. His experiencing in working with surgeons began early in his career, spending time in the operating room with what he calls “some of the greats in all of ophthalmic surgery”, and using his engineering background to develop surgical instrumentation to address their unmet need. In this episode of the OIS Podcast, Hess tells our host Firas Rahhal, MD, “That in and of itself is really the inspiration I have day in and day out. Just understanding the importance of the things that we do, to provide the machines, to design the new technologies and the techniques, to develop digital solutions for longer term care, and really finding ways to change the game in this industry.”Hess discusses B&L’s current activities, and also areas he’s excited about for the future, including• Improved analytical and digital tools• Hypersonics• Robotics• New technol

Michele Garufi, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Nicox, has done whatever was needed to get the company where it is today, with two promising product candidates in their advanced pipeline, as well as two out-licensed products. When it was time for Garufi to launch Nicox, there was no venture capital presence in the healthcare sector in his home country of Italy. So he and his Nicox co-founders looked outside the country, and found financing in France. They kept their research center in the Milan, Italy, area, and now have a development center in the United States. In this episode of the podcast, Garufi tells our host Rob Rothman, MD, that Nicox will continue to become more U.S.-centered, and completely focused on ophthalmology. The company was founded on Garufi’s interest in nitric oxide (NO) donation, trying to apply NO properties to different therapeutic areas.Garufi credits some of his ability to overcome obstacles to his competitive swimming days.  “When I was young,” he said, “for 7 or 8 years I was on t

Stuart Abelson is President, Chairman, and CEO of Ora, a contract research organization (CRO). He is also the son of an ophthalmologist, and says watching his dad’s hard work and passion still fuels him today. In this episode, Abelson explains to our host Rob Rothman, MD, the role of a CRO in conducting clinical trials for innovative companies. He said, “A lot of times these companies have the idea, they’ve got the product, they’ve got the know-how, but they tend to outsource the heavy lifting to get that done.” Abelson said a CRO handles the mechanics of getting a clinical study done, including:• Patient recruitment• Site Training• Oversight for compliance issues• Drug logistics• Data management and handling• Data interpretationHe says though that because of years of experience focusing only in the area of ophthalmology, the company does more than a traditional CRO and can help clients from large companies to physician entrepreneurs develop their studies to really help advance products through development. A

When Alcon spun out of the grasp of Novartis, the company’s relationship with physicians around the world needed repair, according to Michael Onuscheck, president, global business and innovation at Alcon. “There was a separation between what the company was doing, and what the physicians and the community really needed us to do as leaders in the industry,” he said.In this episode of the OIS Podcast, Onuscheck tells host Ehsan Sadri, MD, that he sat down with physicians and listened to them to learn how to rebuild the relationships and restore customer value. He says Alcon’s responsibility as a leader in the segment is to understand what physicians need, and turn their ideas into products.Onuscheck discusses his path to Alcon, including a decision to target his career toward technologies that lead to immediate perceptible outcomes for patients. He says it’s “pretty unique” to work in a field where patients experience such an immediate difference after a procedure. He also outlines his current strategic respons

Nicholas Curtis, CEO of LENSAR, got some of his entrepreneurial spirit seeing his grandfathers (“pappous” in their Greek homeland) and father own and operate bars and restaurants. A football scholarship took him to Northwestern University in Chicago, and the rest has been what he calls “a circuitous route, with some serendipity.”Curtis traces his route in this episode of the OIS podcast, through his first job, at IBM, where he was trained in the company’s philosophy of a needs satisfaction approach to selling. He said, “It was all about building a relationship, and ultimately earning the right to ask for the business.”That position led to one with American Hospital Supply, where Curtis met Bill Link, (now Managing Partner of Flying L Partners), who became president of American Medical Optics (AMO) and recruited Curtis to join him. Curtis later joined Lensar as chief commercial officer, and was named “interim” CEO in 2012. Lensar is currently developing the Ally system, which Curtis says is “the first femtosec

Arthur T. Suckow, PhD, became CEO of DTx Pharma through a path that taught him what he needed for this position, but before taking the title he had to prove to himself that he was ready. A recently completed series B financing of $100M and a growing team of executives, are solid evidence that he in fact was. In this episode Dr. Suckow tells host Firas Rahhal, MD, how his time spent working at Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Regulus Therapeutics gave him the inspiration, and the different pieces of the puzzle that he needed, to focus his attention on the challenge of drug delivery, specifically using fatty acids. He explains the work DTx is doing with small interfering RNA (siRNA) on the delivery of RNA therapeutics, and explains that fatty acids can bind to albumin, which can be used as an “Uber” to maintain exposure of drugs over prolonged periods of time.DTx is first developing a treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, but Dr. Suckow said, “I’ve been a drug hunter my whole career,” and the company will

Balamurali "Bala" K. Ambati, MD, PhD, MBA, is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s youngest doctor, having graduated from medical school at age 17. In this episode, Dr. Ambati explains to our host Paul Karpecki, OD, that this accelerated pace gave him a head start meeting great people, exploring the field, doing deep dives in research, and building a good network.Dr. Ambati has had diversified roles over his career, and said, “It’s been great to meld clinical work with research. When you take the patch off somebody, that smile of them seeing again is something special.”In addition to owning an ophthalmology practice in Oregon, Dr. Ambati is President [of iVeena Delivery Systems, a company Dr. Karpecki says is ”really making incredible strides in advancing a treatment for keratoconus”.The company’s candidate for treatment of keratoconus is IVMED-80, which has received orphan drug designation from the FDA. IVMED-80 is designed to restore the activity of lysyl oxidase (LOX), an enzyme r

In this episode “serial entrepreneur” Mina Sooch, President and CEO at Ocuphire Pharma, talks with our host Firas Rahhal, MD, about her experiences of “starting things, building things, and hopefully creating exits.”She says, “An important quality in innovating is the desire to take an asset that’s under-appreciated, add value and showcase that, and bring that to patients”.Because she’s held different roles over her career, Ms. Sooch is able to consider different points of view about what’s needed to build a company at each stage (i.e. gaining capital and finding the right talent). She describes lessons learned, including:• Bringing in the right KOLs, with appropriate experience to leverage.• Diversifying your assets, two are better than one.• The later the stage the better – and why.Sooch also describes Ocuphire Pharma’s pipeline assets including:• Nyxol - an ophthalmic drop that restricts the pupil, being targeted for three separate indications—reversal of mydriasis, presbyopia, and night vision disturbance

This episode of the OIS Podcast was a featured panel discussion with the following industry executives from the Dry Eye Innovation Showcase. Paul Karpecki, OD, FAAO, moderates the conversation with:Doug Faunce, PhD, Allergan/AbbVieSajjad Roshanali, Johnson & Johnson VisionRob Kissling, MD, Bausch + LombMark Hagler, Sun PharmaJehan Tamboowalla, NovartisThe panelists shared candid insights on:- The main driving forces and opportunities in this specialty.- How their companies plan strategic moves, and what they look for to expand their current portfolio of dry eye therapies.- Challenges they are encountering and strategies to overcome them.- The value of developing point-of-care diagnostics.- Initiatives to raise awareness of doctors and consumers. Click play to hear these valuable insights!

For this week’s episode of the OIS Podcast we are sharing the “Clinical Perspective” panel discussion from our recent Dry Eye Innovation Showcase. The following KOLs delivered some fascinating strategies on addressing this massively underserved patient population. Ashley Brissette, MDAna Alzaga Fernandez, MDCynthia Matossian, MD, FACS Laura Periman, MDYuna Rapoport, MD, MPHRahul S. Tonk, MD, MBAPaul Karpecki, OD, FAAODiscussion points include:• The complexity of dry eye disease• Identifying the root causes.• Optimal treatments for varying conditions.• The importance of educating patients.Click play to get enlightened!REGISTER for our next ophthalmology conference today http://bit.ly/2yFA6cv.

In this episode of the OIS Podcast, Tracy Valorie tells host Ehsan Sadri, MD, that one of the most important things in business relationships is building trust. She explains that you can’t always make everybody happy in a business situation, but if you come at it from a strong place of trust you can make something exciting happen.Valorie knew in 7th grade that she wanted to explore science, and her interest led her into several roles at Pfizer Labs, and eventually to the position of senior VP and general manager of ophthalmology at Bausch + Lomb. She now serves as a consultant to small ophthalmology start-ups, with an eye toward leapfrog technologies. In addition to discussing her experiences with large companies and start-ups, Valorie outlines how she moved through her career and gives tips on how others can outline their own path, including not to be afraid of taking the next step. Click “play” to hear this fascinating talk!

Our newest host, Rob Rothman, MD is shaking things up to bring fresh voices and ideas to the OIS Podcast. In what turned out to be the most fascinating podcast discussion to date, we had the privilege to speak with Bruce Ksander, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, who has also contributed to the highly-acclaimed book, Lifespan. Bruce opened our eyes, dropped our jaws, and completely blew our minds with research being conducted on reprogramming damaged cells to reverse the aging process. Tune in now for this mind-expanding and thought-provoking discussion around the future of regenerative medicine and the impact on age-related eye disorders.You don’t want to miss this conversation -press play to listen!

On this special episode of the OIS Podcast, we’re sharing the panel discussion from our recent Gene Therapy Innovation Showcase. We have Peter Francis MD, PhD from 4D Molecular Therapeutics; Jeffrey S. Heier, MD of Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston; Arshad Khanani, MD of Sierra Eye Associates; Jose-Alain Sahel, MD, of UPMC Eye Center; and Glenn Yiu, MD, PhD, from UC Davis Health. Our panelists assess the current landscape of gene therapy and addresses how the sector is evolving to go far beyond treating only inherited retinal diseases. They discuss promising clinical trials and how the future could transform to benefit many patients outside of retina thanks to new advancements.Press play to listen in!

On this week’s episode of the OIS Podcast, Robert Rothman, MD, is joined by Vince Anido, Chairman and CEO of Aerie Pharmaceuticals. Vince shares his vision for Aerie, and how his lean, efficient team carefully strategizes every move they make to cultivate products that benefit patients. We learn background on both Vince and Aerie, and how two of Aerie’s products, Rhopressa and Rocklatane, were brought to market in under one year. How has Aerie has made a name for themselves globally within glaucoma, and next in dry eye, and retina?

On this week’s episode of the OIS Podcast, Firas Rahhal, MD, is joined by Calvin Roberts, MD, CEO of Lighthouse Guild. Cal has over 36 years under his belt in the eye care sector ranging from academia, private practice, and industry. He shares the positive and the negative of transitioning from a private practice on Park Ave over to being the Chief Medical Officer of Bausch + Lomb. Listen in for important factors to consider such as autonomy, security, and the impact on those around you when considering the leap over to industry. We’ll also learn how Cal is weaving his previous experiences into the work he is doing for Lighthouse Guild and how they strive to reduce the burdens of vision loss for patients.