The Fast Track to Neuroprotection: Highlights from Glaucoma 360
The 15th annual meeting on January 30, 2026 in San Francisco featured more new companies and more novel therapies than ever before.
Glaucoma Research Foundation’s New Horizons Forum remains the premier gathering for clinicians, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. Co-chaired by Adrienne Graves, PhD, and Andrew Iwach, MD, the meeting is uniquely structured to bridge the gap between clinical needs and commercial innovation.
At the heart of this year’s New Horizons was a twin focus on neuroprotective innovation and the acceleration of care. The program opened with a keynote from Eugene de Juan Jr., MD, regarding the mission-critical path toward neuroprotective therapies. Dr. de Juan argued that because many patients continue to lose vision despite reaching target intraocular pressures (IOP), the field must look beyond. He highlighted new compounds showing dramatic preclinical results and predicted that AI-driven trial designs and advanced imaging will soon accelerate the clinical adoption of these therapies, eventually shifting the standard of care toward early intervention for those at high risk of progression.
Attendees noted that this year’s New Horizons featured a more diverse array of emerging companies and modalities than ever before. Highlighting this shift were sessions like “Breaking Barriers in Glaucoma,” which explored the latest neuroprotective compounds in development, “The Perfect Dose” and “Devices Changing the Game,” which highlighted novel therapies with new mechanisms of action. Furthermore, the “New Era of Glaucoma Testing” showcased diagnostic leaps, including portable high-speed imaging and saliva-based genetic risk testing, proving that the tools to identify at-risk patients are becoming as innovative as the treatments themselves.
Ruth Williams, MD, closed the meeting by connecting these technical accomplishments to a collective ethic. Reminding the audience that Aristotle defined human flourishing as “fulfilling one’s unique human potential,” Dr. Williams concluded that by advancing the science of sight, these innovators are protecting the visual clarity essential for patients to achieve that potential. Through this lens, neuroprotection is not merely a clinical goal, but a fundamental commitment to the quality of human life.
The 15th annual meeting on January 30, 2026 in San Francisco featured more new companies and more novel therapies than ever before, highlighting Glaucoma Research Foundation’s ongoing commitment to finding a cure for glaucoma through innovative research.