Ophthalmology Times wraps up a year of innovation and insight

To close out the year, we are showcasing top content from our colleagues at Ophthalmology Times, Modern Retina, and Optometry Times. Watch the Ophthalmology Times Europe website all week for the year's top stories from the Eye Care Network.

As 2024 comes to a close, the team at Ophthalmology Times and the greater Eye Care Network would like to thank you, the reader. Throughout the year, we have had the privilege of covering a wide range of topics in ophthalmology. Now, we take a look back at some of the highlights of 2024 and look ahead to the new year on the horizon.

From the cover

This year, Ophthalmology Times saw a wide range of topics covered in the magazine. Twelve cover stories ranged from topics such as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing exponentially in health care, and how that must be double-checked to be accurate. Also in the realm of technology, it was discussed how medical conferences and collaboration in the medical field has been made easier thanks to things such as virtual reality (VR).

We also took a look inside the operating room this year. An article by Eric D. Rosenberg, DO, MScEng, a cornea complex anterior segment surgeon at SightMD in Babylon, New York, discussed how ophthalmologists can boost their efficacy in the operating room. Rosenberg stated, “I have spent the past few years focusing on performing better, faster, and more accurate surgery. Modern cataract surgery is extremely safe and efficient, and technological advances have led to more predictable surgery in fewer steps. It therefore can be challenging to find further efficiencies. Focusing on small changes while maintaining a routine is key.”

Still inside the operating room, there was a greater focus on how to be more sustainable and decreasing the impact of ophthalmic surgeries on the planet. This featured a look at EyeSustain, an organization dedicated to the development of friendly environmental practices, that exists as a global coalition of eye societies providing education and resources to support sustainable practices in ophthalmology.

Of course, we also looked at what the future of treatments could look like, and discussed the growing list of biosimilars being approved for the treatment of retinal diseases and more recently how a new canalicular gel device (Lacrifill, Nordic Pharma) could be used as a treatment for dry eye disease (DED) in the future.

Dry eye

Dry eye is a topic that saw a plethora of news this year, and continues to be one of the more popular areas in eye care.

Aldeyra Therapeutics had a long journey from the CRL they received at the end of 2023 from the FDA and just recently had their NDA approved for reproxalap.

A greater focus was taken on patient understanding of DED as well, with a survey from Bausch + Lomb showing that many sufferers of the disease don’t understand the severity of it or the treatment options that are available.

Eyes looked to the skies as well and discussed how air pollutants effects DED patients as well. One study suggests that higher exposures to lower temperatures and certain air pollutants could result in worsened ocular symptoms and increased tear osmolarity in patients with DED and another saw that eye clinic visits increased when air pollution did as well.

Of course, clinical trial updates never stopped over the course of 2024 and will continue into 2025 and the future. In dry eye, Sun Pharma announced positive phase 4 results for cyclosporine ophthalmic solution 0.09%, Oculis Holding AG announced positive topline results from its Phase 2b RELIEF trial with licaminlimab (OCS-02), Harrow announced results from its ESSENCE 2 open-label extension (OLE) clinical study for cyclosporine ophthalmic solution (Vevye), just to name a few.

FDA approvals

As always, the FDA has approved new treatment options this year in the space of ophthalmology. While it wasn’t as big a number as 2023 saw, it was still enough to make a difference.

In October, Bausch + Lomb Corp announced the FDA granted approval the enVista Envy full range of vision IOLs, which offers a continuous range of vision with dysphotopsia tolerance on the widely used enVista IOL platform.

While over the summer, the FDA has approved faricimab-svoa (Vabysmo) 6.0 mg single-dose prefilled syringe (PFS) from Genentech for use in the treatment of wet, or neovascular AMD, DME and RVO.

As mentioned previously, multiple biosimilars were approved this year as well. Those included Formycon’s biosimilar to Eylea, aflibercept-mrbb (Ahzantive), and aflibercept-jbvf (Yesafili, Biocon Biologics) and aflibercept-yszy (Opuviz, Samsung Bioepis, Biogen).

With exciting developments in AI, sustainability, and groundbreaking treatments shaping the future of ophthalmology, we remain dedicated to bringing you the latest insights, expert opinions, and industry updates. Here’s to another year of progress, collaboration, and excellence in eye care. See you in 2025!