Pharma has set its sights on ophthalmology opportunities

An analysis of how - and why - ophthalmology is increasingly on pharma and investors' radar as a new growth area.

Over the years, ophthalmology has been a slow burn for pharma, with periods of high and low innovation. Since 2017, many first-in-class sight-saving therapies have been approved (Table 1), including Novartis' (NOVN: VX) Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), the first gene therapy for the treatment of mutation-associated retinal dystrophy, and more recently Santen Pharmaceutical's (TYO: 4536) monoclonal antibody Omlonti (omidenepag isopropyl) for open angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension (OH) and Genentech’s Vabysmo (faricimab-svoa) for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD).

Table 1: Notable ophthalmic drug approvals by the FDA since 2017