Podcasts Health Empowered Patient Podcast Micro Insert Treats Prevents Progression of Retinal Eye Diseases with Nancy Lurker EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

Micro Insert Treats Prevents Progression of Retinal Eye Diseases with Nancy Lurker EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

Published: June 29, 2023, 2:17 p.m.

Nancy Lurker, CEO and Board Director of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, aims to prevent the progression of blindness by developing technology that addresses retinal eye diseases. These back of the eye diseases are age-related and an increasing threat to populations worldwide. Current treatments require regular injections in the eye. The micro inserts developed by EyePoint will allow the drug to work for six months, allowing patients more flexibility to maintain their vision. 

Nancy explains, "We know that if you look at the current eye treatments on the market today, wet AMD, retinal vein occlusion, diabetic macular edema, and diabetic retinopathy, all of those are running close to $30 to $40 billion being spent to help to treat these terrible eye diseases which may lead to blindness."

"So, what causes these diseases? There's a genetic component at times, but also age plays a factor. And then, of course, diabetic macular edema and diabetic retinopathy can be caused for patients who have diabetes. So. what happens is you get a proliferation of tiny, tiny micro capillaries in the eye and, in some cases, just general atrophy of these retinal epithelia. These cells help to allow you to see. And what happens is when you start to get this proliferative growth that goes on and leakage of fluid and cells into the back of the eye, it completely obstructs your vision, which grows over time."

"The vast majority of patients have to get another injection every month or every other month to slow the progression or stop it. And if you miss a visit, that fluid will come right back, and remember, the fluid is very, very bad for the eye. And we can see in the large databases, it's the medical claims data from patients, millions of these patients, we can see that even though they go in and get their eyes injected, you miss visits. Why? Life happens."

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