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April News Round Up

๐€๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐‘๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐”๐ฉ

๐Ÿ“ข ๐„๐ฒ๐ž๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐€๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐  ๐๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐šโ€™๐ฌ ๐“๐จ๐ฉ ๐’๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Œ๐ž๐๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ
Great to see two ophthalmic drugs among 2024's top sellers: Bayer's Eylea and Roche's Vabysmo.
๐Ÿ‘ Bayer: Eylea, co-marketed with Regeneron, remains a leading anti-VEGF treatment for AMD, DME, and retinal vein occlusion, continuing to dominate the retina market.
๐Ÿ‘ Roche: Vabysmo, a bispecific antibody targeting VEGF and Ang-2, is challenging Eyleaโ€™s dominance with strong uptake and extended dosing potential.
๐Ÿ‘ Novartis (Lucentis) and AbbVie have promising ophthalmic drugs, but none broke into their top three bestsellers this year.

๐Ÿ“ข ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐›๐ฒ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐š ๐”๐ฉ๐๐š๐ญ๐ž
Alcon unveils Clareon PanOptix Pro Trifocal IOL (US launch May 2025), offering improved near-to-distance vision with 94% light utilisation.

 Orasis Pharmaceuticals launches QLOSIโ„ข eye drops (US), enhancing near vision within 20 minutes, lasting up to 12 hours.

๐Ÿ“ข ๐“๐จ๐ฉ๐œ๐จ๐ง ๐†๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐ข๐ง $2.31๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐Š๐Š๐‘ & ๐‰๐ˆ๐‚๐‚
Topcon Healthcare will go private in a $2.31B management buyout backed by KKR (majority stake) and JICC (minority stake). The move aims to drive long-term growth and strategic transformation, following a wider trend of Japanese firms enhancing competitiveness by exiting public markets.

๐Ÿ“ข ๐‘๐š๐ฒ๐ง๐ž๐ซ ๐ƒ๐จ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ˆ๐Ž๐‹ ๐Œ๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‚๐š๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ
Rayner has doubled IOL production to 4M units annually at its upgraded Worthing, UK facility, adding new automation, autoclaves, and energy-efficient tech. A new global warehouse near Gatwick, opened in 2024, further boosts global distribution.

๐Ÿ“ข ๐€๐ฅ๐œ๐จ๐ง ๐€๐œ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐Œ๐š๐ฃ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐€๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ข๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ก ๐ญ๐จ ๐€๐๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐‚๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐š๐ฅ ๐‚๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ฉ๐ฒ
Alcon has acquired a majority stake in Aurion Biotech, advancing its position in corneal cell therapy. Aurionโ€™s lead candidate, AURN001, targets corneal endothelial disease and is heading into Phase 3 trials in late 2025. Aurion will operate independently, with Dr. Arnaud Lacoste as CEO.

๐Ÿ“ข ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐‚๐š๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐‚๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐œ๐š ๐”๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐€๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐๐‡๐’ ๐Ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐’๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ฌ
Private NHS cataract surgery providers are under investigation for inflated costs, unnecessary procedures, and financial incentives. NHS cataract spending has nearly doubled, from ยฃ420M in 2018โ€“19 to ยฃ880M in 2023โ€“24. Over 55% of NHS cataract surgeries are now outsourced to private clinics, which earned ยฃ536M in 2023โ€“24, with ยฃ169M in profits.
A The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) survey found 67% of NHS leads believe outsourcing harms patient care, citing reduced training, staffing, and funding. Calls for urgent reform are growing to protect NHS eye care services.