EyeWorld Asia-Pacific March 2011 Issue

33 EW NEWS & OPINION March 2011 SERI developing sustained delivery system for IOP-lowering drugs in glaucoma P atient compliance is a “major obstacle” to controlling glaucoma, said Tina Wong, MD, consultant, Glaucoma Service, Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), Singapore, and head of the Ocular Drug Delivery Group, Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), Singapore. Patients may find it difficult to adhere to the dosing regimen prescribed; in addition, she said, some studies have shown the bioavailability of drugs delivered in eye drop form to only be about 5%. Working with a team of scientists and engineers from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, Dr. Wong and her colleagues at SERI have developed a “unique, sustained release drug formulation using liposomal technology that is injected into the conjunctiva of the eye”, she said. “A single, painless injection has been successfully proven to maintain a consistently low intraocular pressure for up to 85 days in an animal study.” This, she said, effectively “takes the patient out of the equation”, and results so far have been comparable to the effects of compliant daily administration of the same drug in eye drop form. The project is now preparing to conduct a “first in man” clinical study at SNEC. The research is part of the Translational Clinical Research Programme awarded to SERI, and is funded by the National Research Foundation in Singapore. Asia-ARVO 2011: The bionic eye, & others by Chiles Aedam R. Samaniego EyeWorld Asia-Pacific Senior Staff Writer The future of ophthalmic medicine brought to light at the Asia-ARVO 2011 Meeting on Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, held at the Resorts World Convention Centre, Sentosa, Singapore, from 20 to 22 January 2011 N avigating an Asia-ARVO meeting can be a bewildering experience. A quick glance at the program is enough to leave you feeling overwhelmed by the range and diversity of new information and degree of scientific knowledge on hand for the stalwart, determined ophthalmologist. The sheer scale of the meeting boggles the mind. “ARVO [The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology] is the largest organization of vision and ophthalmology researchers with nearly 12,000 doctors and researchers from over 70 countries,” said Guest of Honor, Mr. Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. “The Asia-ARVO meeting serves as the Asian branch of the ARVO meeting held annually in the US.” Even experts have a hard time knowing just where to begin. Asked whether there were any particular topics or advances on show at the meeting that he was personally looking forward to, Donald Tan, MD, Medical Director, Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), Singapore, could only laugh. “We have over 200 international speakers here,” he explained. The speakers were from 35 different countries and are considered the “top professors around the world”. “This is the biggest Asia-ARVO ever,” Dr. Tan said. “I can’t even begin to give you a snapshot of the new technologies.” Still, it’s well worth the plunge. After all, “the way ahead is translational research,” as Dr. Tan would later say in his welcome address at the meeting’s opening ceremony. Engineering vision One theme that recurred throughout the meeting’s 40 symposiums (including 11 special interest group symposiums) and six plenary lectures was the importance of the collaborative involvement of several disciplines, both in and out of ophthalmology. Many of these fields, such as genetics, microbiology, molecular biology, and pharmacology, while not exclusively concerned with ophthalmic science, have long been recognized as integral to the development of ophthalmic medical technology. What may be surprising is the significant involvement of distinctly non-medical sciences, such as the various sub-disciplines of engineering. Then again, it should be clear to any practicing ophthalmic surgeon just how important engineering is in vision- related medicine; cataract and refractive surgery, for instance, have long been known to have become increasingly dependent on engineered technology over the last few decades, with various phacoemulsification machines and refractive lasers currently on the market and in development. The femtosecond laser in particular has many ophthalmic surgeons on the edge of their seats; this technology is expected to become increasingly important in both cataract and refractive surgery in the near future. Collaboration with engineers has not only led to the development of better instruments—including continued on page 34