Eyeworld

81 December 2017 EW MEETING REPORTER but also for the people," Mr. Mazzo said. Mr. Frinzi shared his experiences later in the history of AMO. He saw the opportunity for AMO to jump back into big company experiences. "AMO has a wonderful legacy of innovation," he said, adding the importance of being part of Johnson & Johnson and the great resources it brings to the eye industry. They are committed to bringing innova- tion and having the people who are able to do that. "I think the future is bright for Johnson & Johnson Vision," he said. "As we were building the business, what was so empowering and motivating and nourishing to us is that we were helping people," Dr. Link said in concluding the discussion. The experience helped him begin to understand the power of being in healthcare, developing technology, and helping people. Dr. Link shared a story of encountering a man on a ski lift who, after asking what field of work Dr. Link was in, said that he had an AMO lens in his eye and commented on the pro- found impact it had on him. "Masters of Industry" "Masters of Industry" was the final panel discussion of the day and included moderator Mr. Mazzo, Carl Zeiss Meditec (Jena, Germany), Michael Ball, Alcon (Fort Worth, Texas), Mr. Frinzi, Johnson & Johnson Vision, Rafiq Hasan, MD, Bayer (Leverkusen, Germany), Dr. Link, Versant Ventures (San Fran- cisco), Ludwin Monz, PhD, Carl Zeiss Meditec, and Brent Saunders, Allergan. Mr. Mazzo posed the ques- tion: Which innovation have you seen in the last several years that is going to change ophthalmic care? Dr. Monz said in diagnostics, OCT angiography and wide-field fundus approved by the FDA for commer- cial distribution), the adoption of the name Advanced Medical Optics in 2002, the acquisition of Pfizer's (New York) ophthalmic surgical line in 2004 (including Healon, the CeeON IOL, and the TECNIS IOL), the acquisition of VISX in 2005, and the addition of IntraLase technology and WaveFront Sciences in 2007. In 2009, Advanced Medical Optics was acquired by Abbott Laboratories and became Abbott Medical Optics. From there, AMO shifted in 2011 from the refractive surgery market to micro-implantation cataract technologies. It released the TECNIS toric one-piece IOL and acquired OptiMedica and the CATALYS laser system in 2013; the TECNIS Sym- fony received the CE mark in 2014; and the Symfony was approved in the U.S. in 2016. It was 2017 that marked the end of the AMO brand, with Johnson & Johnson Vision acquiring the company. Following the detailed timeline of the company, Dr. Link shared his experience from the beginning of AMO starting from when he moved from Indiana to Southern Califor- nia in 1976. Before forming AMO, there was discussion of trying to acquire a European company, but he visited Europe and most companies he spoke with did not want to be acquired by an American compa- ny. In the beginning, the company bought Plexiglas and made PMMA lenses, making them one of the first U.S. companies to make lenses and implant them. Mr. Mazzo shared his experience from when AMO was acquired by Allergan. He said that Gavin Her- bert, MD, pushed the acquisition after seeing so many physicians at the AMO booth at a meeting and realizing that Allergan and AMO had a similar customer base. "Gavin bought it not just for the technology imaging will have a huge impact. Digital workplaces, where software combines digital information from different sources, presenting it in clinically meaningful ways to allow doctors to make better decisions, and artificial intelligence for oph- thalmic use, such as reading fundus images, have been major innova- tions as well. From the therapeutic/surgical side, Dr. Monz said there has been a lot of innovation in improving re- fractive outcomes—use of intraoper- ative aberrometry, for example—and small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) as a new refractive proce- dure is notable as well. In terms of where innovation is still needed, Mr. Ball said there is still room in AMD, dry eye, MIGS, and presbyopia. "Patients do not want to wear reading glasses," Mr. Ball said. "I think [there are] huge opportunities out there for serious diseases but also for patient needs." When it comes to a company having a focus on devices or phar- maceuticals only or making room for both, Mr. Mazzo asked if there is an advantage either way. Mr. Ball said it is an advantage for Alcon, which recently shifted its focus to devices only. The innovation and research and development for devic- es and pharmaceuticals is "funda- mentally different," so he thinks it's valuable to have them separate. Mr. Saunders said that while he agrees with this point, he noted that Aller- gan has a stronger focus on phar- maceuticals but is looking at more devices because "at the end of the day, it's about serving your custom- er. We serve ophthalmologists, and we should service all their needs." Other topics discussed by the panelists included how digital will impact pharmaceutical and device spaces, the role of smaller companies in the ophthalmic space, and what's attracting venture capital. EW Editors' note: The participants of OIS@AAO 2017 have financial interests with their respective companies. View videos from OIS@AAO 2017: EWrePlay.org Jag Dosanjh discusses the role of XEN and the launch of a nasal therapy for dry eye.

• Blank Page
• Blank Page (1)