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24 | EYEWORLD DAILY NEWS | APRIL 5, 2024 ASCRS ANNUAL MEETING DAILY NEWS I s the dry eye landscape drying out or still fertile ground with oppor- tunities for investors? This is what moderators Robert Dempsey, with AsclepiX Therapeutics, and Preeya Gupta, MD, discussed with panelists Edward Holland MD, Marc Gleeson, with Azura Ophthalmics, Marjan Farid, MD, and Todd Brady, MD, PhD, with Aldeyra Therapeutics, at an afternoon Eyecelerator session. "Our job is to convince you that dry eye disease is not dead," Mr. Dempsey said before showing the au- dience a graphic of the U.S. dry eye total Rx market performance. "What you see here is a healthy market." Mr. Dempsey noted that there was $4 billion in topline sales through pharmacies in 2023 and about 5 million prescriptions written in the dry eye space. There has been 6–8% growth in this market. "Ladies and gentlemen, that's not a dead market." Dr. Gupta began a discussion on how a dry eye product gets funded and to market in the current land- scape. One word kept coming up among the panelists: differentiation. "Differentiation is critical," Mr. Gleeson said. He also said you have to consider what the payer landscape looks like. "Investors look at that endgame from a revenue projection." Dr. Brady said that while he's heard many say, "There are so many products on the market now," he thinks there is plenty of space. "It's not getting smaller, and there is plenty of space for differenti- ation," he said. Building on that Dr. Holland added that dry eye is a complex condition that needs different mechanisms of action. "There is tremendous unmet need and great opportunity," he said. Examining the dry eye landscape W iley Chambers, MD, spent 36 years with the FDA before he retired earlier this year from his position as the director of the Office of Specialty Medicine Division of Ophthalmology. Dr. Chambers sat down with John Berdahl, MD, for an exit interview at Eyecelerator. Among the many questions Dr. Berdahl asked, here are a few. What do you want to make sure this audience knows about the U.S. FDA that we probably don't? Dr. Chambers said the FDA to many people is a black box. "I've never fully understood why it remains a black box because it's been the goal of people at the FDA to explain why they were doing particular things. The goal is to get safe and effective products on the market and to have the law behind it … to follow the science behind the law. Personally, the next step for me was to be able to explain why I did something. … And fourth was to try to not be the step holding it up. Get things out as quickly as possible." What were you and your team great at at the FDA? Internally, we could discuss anything and would reach a consensus on any decision that we made, Dr. Chambers said, adding it wasn't always explain- able outside because there was information that couldn't be shared outside. What were you not great at? "Getting around the law when the law made no sense," Dr. Chambers said to chuckles from the audience. What are you most proud of? "I'm proud of giving the ophthalmic community products they can count on to be safe and efficacious," he said. "I'd just like to say that 36 years of public service requires an enormous round of applause," Dr. Berdahl said, concluding his interview as the crowd gave Dr. Chambers a standing ovation. Exit interview with Wiley Chambers, MD Mr. Dempsey moderates the session "DED or Dead?", stating that it was his intent to convince the audience "dry eye disease is not dead." Source: ASCRS

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