ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
ASCRS News
October 2023
by Ellen Stodola
Editorial Co-Director
The Eyecelerator meeting is back ahead of the 2023 AAO Annual Meeting on November 2 in San Francisco, California. The collaboration between ASCRS and AAO will give attendees a full-day program highlighting innovation in ophthalmology.
Program Director Gil Kliman, MD, is excited about Eyecelerator @ AAO 2023, which will finish out its third year of physical meetings. “We are the biggest in-person ophthalmology innovation meeting in the world, and we’re continuing to build on our previous meetings,” he said. “We are proud of our program leadership team, which this year includes Allen Ho, MD, as Retina Program Director, and Zaina Al-Mohtaseb, MD, and Bob Avery, MD, as Program Co-Chairs. We have a terrific committee collaborating with them, with many new to Eyecelerator bringing diverse perspectives.
“A major theme of the Eyecelerator meeting is to help move innovation faster while learning from it so that we can celebrate our successes but also study some of our failures and challenges,” Dr. Kliman continued. “I think this AAO Annual Meeting is a very timely one given all the headwinds that we’re seeing in innovation, with disruption in capital markets, high interest rates, and less early-stage investing.” He thinks there will be valuable commentary on top-of-mind issues and outstanding networking activities among the more than 500 projected attendees.
Dr. Kliman stressed the importance of ASCRS and AAO pioneering the idea of partnering to create an innovation meeting. “There is tremendous power in bringing together the society leadership and infrastructure for the meeting. We’re providing an energetic kickoff to the clinical meeting by bringing all the business participants in ophthalmology together on the day before the clinical meeting,” he said.
Attendees can kick off their meeting activities at Eyecelerator and hear some of the highlights of innovation, then go directly to the clinical meeting, where they may hear presentations on the same topics from a different angle. “They’re learning about innovations from different dimensions,” he said. “This helps reach both the business community and the clinical community seamlessly.”
The opening session will cover the current year in review and the financial environment for ophthalmology. There will be discussions around new treatments for dry AMD that were recently approved. The program will also feature a session on AI, looking at how this might play out in ophthalmology. There is a lot of hype in this area, Dr. Kliman said, but the aim is to have a practical conversation about the likely ways AI would be applied within eyecare.
Dr. Al-Mohtaseb is excited to be involved in this year’s Eyecelerator meeting. “The program will give attendees a chance to hear about many innovation topics relevant across the field of ophthalmology,” she said. “It’s a great way to begin their time at the AAO Annual Meeting and be able to hear from ophthalmologists, companies, financial speakers, FDA representatives, and more.”
Dr. Al-Mohtaseb will moderate a session on industry’s role in nurturing innovation. “An intriguing trend is emerging where larger enterprises increasingly await the maturation of smaller counterparts’ products,” she said. “This results in less than optimal financial gains for investors due to the substantial investment in exhaustive FDA testing. This scenario raises pertinent questions about the motivation of fledgling enterprises to persevere in pioneering novel products and pushing the boundaries of innovation.”
Another session will touch on the changing regulatory environment and how both small and large companies can navigate it, with higher bars being set for endpoints and more weight being put on patient reported outcomes and how companies can get through the FDA approval process and survive. Dr. Al-Mohtaseb said she’s excited to hear from Wiley Chambers, MD, and Malvina Eydelman, MD, from the FDA, on this topic.
The Winning Pitch Challenge will again be featured, with pitches from three early-stage ophthalmology innovators. Judges and the audience will decide who wins the cash prizes worth $45,000.
Presenting Company Showcases will spotlight companies in the retina, anterior segment, and glaucoma and digital spaces, and the program will conclude with final insights and awards. “People can choose from a variety of topics in our buffet of company presentations,” Dr. Kliman said.
About the physicians
Zaina Al-Mohtaseb, MD
Director of Research
Whitsett Vision Group
Clinical Associate Professor
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas
Gil Kliman, MD
Managing Partner
InterWest Partners
Los Altos, California
