RESEARCH
Ike Ahmed, MD, FRCSC, has been leading a clinical study of the Myra Vision Calibreye System, pictured in the background, a laser-assisted device that would improve customized glaucoma treatments for patients.
Glaucoma Innovation in Action The Alan S. Crandall Center for Glaucoma Innovation, led by Iqbal Ike K. Ahmed, MD, FRCSC, was created to lead the field in four high-impact initiatives. Catch up on the latest below. Surgical & Medical Therapeutics: Precision Medicine
Glaucoma provides a perfect example of why tailoring therapies and treatments to individual needs is widely viewed as the future of medicine. “Precision medicine can make all the difference in glaucoma patients because the disease is so different for each person in terms of how fast it progresses and fluctuations in intraocular pressure,” explains Ahmed, an internationally renowned surgeon who consults on device development for more than 50 companies. In September 2023, Ahmed began the first in-human clinical study of the Calibreye System developed by Myra Vision. After placing it in the eye, physicians can adjust 14
this next-generation drainage device to decrease or increase drainage without additional surgery as a patient’s treatment needs change. Since glaucoma progresses differently for each person, testing throughout one patient’s lifetime generates thousands of data points about intraocular pressure, corneal thickness, and rates of optic nerve deterioration. Researcher and glaucoma specialist Brian C. Stagg, MD, has developed an analytic system to help physicians sort through the data to decide on the best treatments and timing for follow-up testing. “My goal is to allow glaucoma doctors to assess the data more quickly and adapt it to their patients’ needs,” says Stagg. “It is personalized medicine at the point of care.”