G360’s New Horizons Forum Highlights Innovations and Discusses the Future of Glaucoma Therapy

The Glaucoma 360 New Horizons Forum provided an update on technologies with high interest, as well as devices just gaining attention.

The forum was held Feb. 7 in San Francisco, California, and drew more than 300 attendees. Another 370 attended the CME courses on Feb. 8. The Glaucoma Research Foundation Gala on Feb. 6 raised more than $500 thousand for research.

‘Maverick Innovators’

The “Maverick Innovators” session included a presentation by Rui Jing Jiang, of Avisi Technologies, on the company’s VisiPlate glaucoma implant. The VisiPlate is ultrathin and made from nonfibrotic materials, designed to create multi-channel outflow passageways. The goal is to create redundancies that prevent failure of the device due to clogging of the channels from debris or scarring.

Implantation of the device does not require any special tools or gonioscopy, and the device is geared toward patients with moderate to severe glaucoma. Jiang positions the treatment as an alternative to trabeculectomy. The company reported that 34 cases had been completed globally to date.

John Berdahl, MD, gave an update on his FYSX ocular pressure adjusting pump in the form of goggles, intended to reduce IOP during sleep in adult patients with open-angle glaucoma and IOP ≤ 21 mmHg.

According to Berdahl, the goggles work every time on every patient and can be used on top of medication. Patient use can be monitored, and the device lowers IOP only while in use. The device is for use in difficult-to-treat patients with normal tension glaucoma. It is considered durable medical equipment, similar to a CPAP machine, which is a new category in ophthalmology. While around 30 percent of patients discontinued use, compliance rates were better than Rocklatan and Rhopressa, Berdahl said.

In a favorite session of the morning, third-year medical student Rachel Chapman presented her company, EyeSentry, which she hopes to launch prior to her graduation from medical school in 2026.

Her company is creating software to assist primary care providers in screening patients for glaucoma risk, so high-risk patients can be identified and referred earlier. The program provides a risk category, indication of strength of evidence, timeline of follow-up recommended, and printable patient resources.

Chapman said she also hopes that having additional data earlier in the disease state will aid in future research and algorithm development.

Ariel Cao of Injectsense gave an update on the company’s implantable pressure monitoring device.

The device is implanted into the pars plana via injection, similar to an IVT injection. The system can collect continual data points that would be ideal for training an AI model, according to Cao. The firm is in first-in-human trials and preparing for its IDE and CE mark processes. It is currently seeking Series C funding, hopefully with an ophthalmic partner.

Carlos Urrea, MD, of PLU Ophthalmic, discussed the company’s single-use surgical instrument, designed to make filtration surgery easier, safer, and more efficacious. The 22-gauge device, dubbed AquaLumen, is commercially available in the US. Urrea showed postoperative eyes that were much quieter than in traditional filtration surgery.

Industry Panel Gives Updates on Future Direction

In an afternoon panel moderated by Berdahl and Jo Ann Giaconi, MD, company officials discussed the challenges they faced from potential shifts at the FDA and future developments.

Panelists from AbbVie, Alcon, Zeiss, Glaukos, and Topcon were asked about what they might like to keep about the way the FDA has historically operated and what they might like to change.

All of the panelists said they were pleased with the way the FDA had historically interacted with companies. Mary Durbin, PhD, of Topcon, said the company would “continue to focus on good science and good product development,” with the goal of serving customers, regardless of the environment. Ian Raden, OD, MBA, of Zeiss, said he hoped the FDA would continue its consistency of timely communication, but he thought more focus on the “need to know” information vs. the “nice to know” information could help improve efficiency. This sentiment was echoed by Lisa Praeger, of Alcon.

Doug Faunce, PhD, of AbbVie, said he hoped that effective communication would continue, but he looked forward to some clear idea of what the FDA is looking for in neuroprotection trials.

The panelists all agreed that money was the biggest obstacle to innovation—both the funding to get started and the confidence in reimbursement down the road.

When it comes to the future of data and how diagnostic companies are going to work to make various data sources talk to each other, Durbin said the Topcon Harmony system can take data inputs from any device that is DICOM compliant. If an eye care provider has data from something that isn’t compliant, Topcon can help integrate it.

Topcon is actively working with AI and creating new tools, as well as bringing in systems that use the eye to aid in diagnostics beyond ophthalmology, she said.

Raden said Zeiss was “fully committed to the AAO request for DICOM compliance,” and all new products being launched met the criteria. Raden also discussed AI use by Zeiss, as the company already has commercialized AI with its IOL calculator, auto centration in OR microscopes that use AI, the Pathfinder application that works in the Cirrus diagnostic, and even a frame selection tool for use in dispensing.

Targeting Neuroprotection

Morning presenters and panelists debated the challenges in studying neuroprotection, a perennial hot topic in glaucoma therapies.

Discussion included animal trials in which insulin showed that it prevented glaucoma progression without lowering IOP in non-human primates. While no behavioral vision was measured, the retina nerve fiber layer (RNFL) did show thickening. However, panelist Jeffrey Goldberg, MD, PhD, said thickening of the RNFL was more likely a sign of stopping disease progression rather than regeneration.

Goldberg gave an update on a study of compound NT-501, Neurotech’s encapsulated cell therapy. The company has been seeing improve-ment in visual field tests, with no change in IOP or central vision. It has seen indications of neuroprotective effects one to two years postopera-tively in patients with one or two implants. This has been especially true in fast-progressing eyes.

Despite the science being ongoing, panelists still discussed which outcome measures they should be looking for and which would be key in designing effective trials to measure neuroprotection and even the potential for optic nerve regeneration.

Derek Wellsbie, MD, discussed the Retinal Ganglion Cell Repopulation, Stem Cell Transplantation, and Optic Nerve Regeneration (RReSTORe) consortium, a group of over 300 investigators working to advance translational development of vision restoration therapies for glaucoma and other optic neuropathies. Several presenters in the panel were a part of this consortium.

The 2026 Glaucoma 360 New Horizons Forum is set for Jan. 30, 2026, at the Westin San Francisco.

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