Where Are They Now? — Updates from New Horizons Forum presenters

At the 2020 New Horizons Forum, Savas Komban, co-founder and CEO of Smartlens Inc., presented during the “Show Me The Money: Getting to Go in Early Stage Glaucoma Financing” session about their new soft contact lens that would monitor IOP continuously for 24 hours at a time. He reported that in initial studies, this innovative tool was found to be comparable to the hand-held Tonopen tonometer. Then at the 2022 New Horizons Forum, Savas Komban participated in the session “OptimEyezing Eye Care: How to Improve Data Acquisition, Management and Patient Engagement“ discussing how data from the Smartlens contact lens gets sent to one’s smartphone for analysis and then to the doctor.

Now, as reported last month, Smartlens has recently raised $6.1 Million in Series A equity financing to advance regulatory clearance for miLens, their novel, electronics-free, soft contact lens for monitoring diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP).

During the Opening Keynote Address at the 2023 New Horizons Forum, “Sustained Drug Delivery for Glaucoma: From Promise to Reality,” Malik Kahook, MD presented about a number of innovative drug delivery systems including the SpyGlass Pharma Drug Delivery Platform, which he said uses a modified intraocular lens to safely deliver a drug to the eye over a period of three years. He reported in February that the system has been validated in vitro and in vivo, and that a SpyGlass feasibility study was underway.

On July 10, 2023, it was announced that SpyGlass Pharma had completed $90 million in Series C financing to advance its novel glaucoma treatments. “We believe our approach represents a paradigm shift in the treatment of eye diseases, such as glaucoma, with significant advantages compared to currently commercialized therapies,” said Dr. Kahook, who is the co-founder and president of SpyGlass Pharma. “The efficacy and safety demonstrated from the first-in-human feasibility trial showing 45% mean IOP-lowering in glaucoma patients, with 100% of subjects off all topical medication nine months after implantation, is remarkable,” he added.