Charles Holmes
Associate Vice President, Head of International Eyecare
How is Allergan addressing the biggest unmet needs in the field?
Being at the forefront of developing innovative treatments to meet the biggest unmet needs in ophthalmology is fundamental to Allergan. One of the most critical unmet needs in glaucoma is adherence to glaucoma medication; this is a constant challenge and it is recognized as an essential component to treatment (1). There is also a clear unfulfilled need for an objective measurement of patient adherence as well as improved delivery methods for drug therapies (1).Others include identification of biomarkers of retinal ganglion cell dysfunction as well as identification of novel targets for glaucoma treatments that lower IOP and preserve retinal ganglion cell function (1).
To answer some of these unmet needs our focus is on sustained delivery devices, which could be one way to address the problem of nonadherence in glaucoma by providing long-term IOP lowering without the need for drops. In retinal diseases there are a number of challenges: intravitreal injections require frequent and indefinite evaluations, with a particularly high burden during the first two years of treatment; also, despite robust response and visual gains in many patients, up to 30 percent may continue to lose vision, and with long-term follow-up, more than half of patients may have vision worse than 20/40, which may limit their daily activities despite anti-VEGF treatment (2).
Allergan’s approach in terms of meeting these unmet needs is to look to address patient burden as well as treatments that provide a sustained duration of action.
What is the most exciting project that Allergan is working on?
Other than bringing our pipeline products to market, Allergan has always had a reputation for delivering exceptional medical education. Through the Allergan Medical Institute (AMI) we look to provide education that goes “beyond the pill.” We work with an eminent group of mentors who build our curricula and agendas, meaning that all of our content is developed by doctors for doctors. We are currently focusing on innovative ways of learning through hands-on workshops with memorable and meaningful interactions tailored to the learner.
References
C Cursiefen C et al., Ophthalmic Res, 62, 123 (2019). PMID: 31382265.
MA Klufas, DJ D’Amico, Retina Specialist (2018). Available at: bit.ly/38TvYp1.
