What You’ll Miss if You’re not at OIS@AAO 2017

Learn how the Ophthalmic Digital Health workshop fits with the FDA Commissioner's vision

Let’s just say there’s too much happening at OIS@AAO 2017 next week to capsulize it all in a tidy preview, but with the ninth iteration set to convene next Thursday, November 9, at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, we’ll hit some of the highlights of a program that starts with a networking breakfast at 6:45 am and then concludes almost a full half day later with a networking reception.

Here’s a look at what happens in between.

Breakfast Breakouts. There are seven of them this year. “Breakfast Breakouts continue to grow in popularity,” says OIS co-chairman Emmett T. Cunningham Jr., MD, PhD, MPH, who’s also managing director of Clarus Funds. “Topics are chosen to reflect timely and topical issues in the sector.” This year those timely and topical issues include collaboration and competition between ophthalmologists and optometrists, an update on minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) and glaucoma, a deep dive into the impact private equity is having on private practice, updates on retina and dry eye, and two separate sessions with key Food and Drug Administration decision-makers – Malvina Eydelman, MD, director of the Division of Ophthalmic and Ear, Nose, and Throat Devices; and Wiley Chambers, MD, deputy director, Division of Transplant and Ophthalmology Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Welcome and Chairman’s 2017 Year in Review. “As in years past, this will touch on sector highlights since the last OIS@AAO,” says Dr. Cunningham. He’ll have a lot of territory to cover, from the anticipated approval of Spark Therapeutics’ Luxterna (voretigene neparvovec) gene therapy for biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated retinal dystrophy to giving context to the Phase II FILLY trial readout of Apellis Pharmaceuticals’ APL-2 complement factor 3 inhibitor for treatment of geographic atrophy – and a bevy of trial readouts, collaborations, mergers, and acquisitions in the space over the past year.

Company Showcases. Three in the morning and one in the afternoon will shine the spotlight on 32 of “the most exciting, innovative companies in the sector,” Dr. Cunningham states.

Industry Insights into Innovation 2017. The morning session wraps up with Dr. Cunningham moderating a panel that parses how the morning showcase companies fit into current trends in innovation. The purpose of the panel, he explains, is “to give industry leaders an opportunity to share their views on areas of highest potential for disruptive innovation.”

Challenges in Innovation: What Would You Do? After the networking lunch and the OIS Industry Tribute to AMO, OIS@AAO co-chairman Gil Kliman, MD, managing director of InterWest Partners, moderates this panel, which he describes as “a new type of session using business school case method called ‘Challenges in Innovation:  What Would You Do?’ where we review real-life historical situations at companies, ask the audience what they would do, and then have the actual executives involved discuss how challenges were resolved.” Those executives and their companies are Randy Alexander, chairman of ReVision Optics, Reza Zadno, PhD, president and CEO of Avedro, and Bernie Haffey, president of 2020 Management Consulting.

Blended Careers: Industry and Medicine. Richard Lindstrom, MD, founder and attending surgeon at Minnesota Eye Consultants, moderates this panel of seven physician-executives to talk about how they moved from the clinic to industry.

There’s still more on the agenda:

  • David W. Parke II, MD, CEO of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, will provide his annual “View from the AAO” on ophthalmic innovation.
  • Mala Dutta, PhD, of the National Eye Institute, will share her organization’s view on innovation.
    Jonathan Norris of SVB will provide an update on private funding trends.
  • Piper Jaffray’s Andrew Gitkin will present a view of the public ophthalmology market.
  • Michael Lachman of EyeQ Research will present the latest update on the OIS Index.

Before the networking reception, co-chairman William J. Link, PhD, managing director of Versant Ventures, will wrap it all up with his closing remarks.