EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/78708
60 EW MEETING REPORTER June 2012 Reporting live from the 2012 Ophthalmology Innovation Summit, Chicago Ophthalmology Innovation Summit comes to the ASCRS Annual Meeting OIS spotlights MIGS, cataract surgery T he inaugural Ophthalmol- ogy Innovation Summit (OIS) at the 2012 ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress combined in- dustry, clinicians, and entrepreneurs to discuss the innovation cycle of surgical ophthalmology. The half- day session featured talks on micro- invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS), enhancing refractive outcomes in cataract surgery, a look at the current status and future impact of femtosecond lasers, and where the industry stands on intraoperative aberrometry. Approximately 300 people attended the meeting. Thirty-five percent of those were private com- pany executives, 25% physicians, 15% industry, 10% finance, 10% consultants and other, and 5% media. "That's a good mix and speaks to why the meeting is so successful," said Emmett T. Cunningham Jr., M.D., founder and chairman of OIS. "It brings together all those con- stituents who are interested in oph- thalmology." William Link, Ph.D., managing www.ophthalmologysummit.com/ ascrs/presentation.html View video from OIS@ASCRS or PowerPoints (pass word OISASCRS) Editors' note: This Meeting Reporter contains original reporting by the EyeWorld news team from the 2012 Ophthalmology Innovation Summit, Chicago. director, Versant Ventures, Menlo Park, Calif., and OIS meeting co- chair, kicked off OIS with an overview of the innovation cycle. The key constituents, he said, are the inventor/entrepreneur team, the clinician-early adopter, the financial partner, and the industry leaders- commercial team. The innovator/entrepreneur team has amazing problem-solving skills, is not complacent, and makes others around them better. The cli- nician-early adopter is the open- minded medical expert who is constructively critical and judges if the innovation is better medicine and better business. The financial partner brings the money and finds additional expertise and capital as needed. Finally, the industry leaders are the culture that fosters innova- tion and allows mistakes. They drive adoption and assure access for cus- tomers and patients. Dr. Link acknowledged that al- though the innovation cycle is tak- ing longer than ever and becoming more costly with variable rewards, the ophthalmology industry should not abandon the process. He also gave an overview of the steps in the innovation cycle for ophthalmic technologies. The entire process, which consists of observa- tion and invention, product devel- opment, iteration, human proof-of- concept, CE mark and OUS market development, FDA approval, and U.S. global market development, takes between 10 and 12 years. "The strong value drivers of the innovation cycle are the human proof-of-concept, gaining early mar- ket access to see where you stand, the FDA approval, and global launch," Dr. Link said. "Projects fail at every stage all the way to the end." The principles of innovation, Dr. Link said, are to focus on the big market important issues and find out where the innovation will be re- warded. "We always have to direct inno- vation to where it will be received and rewarded," he said. "Making progress is an iterative process. Be open to independent critical input. Don't process information through a tight filter; listen to the feedback you're getting." Dr. Link also stressed discipline, skill, and assertiveness, but to stop short of arrogance. "Don't be frozen by the uncer- tain or the unknown," he advised. "Be willing to fail, because you will. When it happens, dust yourself off and move forward. Don't be para- lyzed by those mistakes. Learn from them, apologize, and move on." MIGS: Unmet needs and opportunities Ike Ahmed, M.D., glaucoma special- ist, University of Toronto, gave a talk on the unmet needs and opportuni- ties in MIGS, pointing out that there's up to three-quarters of a bil- lion dollars invested in glaucoma surgery. "Glaucoma is defined as an optic neuropathy with classic visual Ike Ahmed, M.D., presents on unmet needs and opportunties in MIGS Source: Convention Photo by Jeff Orlando