American Academy of Ophthalmology, Nov. 3-5

The annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology was held from Nov. 3 to 5 in San Francisco and attracted participants from around the world, including ophthalmologists, optometrists, opticians, and other eye health care professionals. The conference featured presentations focusing on the latest advances in comprehensive eye care, including medical, surgical, and optical care.

In the phase 3 Childhood Atropine for Myopia Progression clinical study, Darren J. Bell, M.D., of Medical Center Ophthalmology Associates in San Antonio, and colleagues found that low-dose atropine is effective for all children with myopia, irrespective of age, sex, race, iris color, or baseline spherical equivalent refraction.

The authors randomly assigned children with myopia and between −0.50 D to −6.00 D spherical equivalent refraction to a proprietary formulation of low-dose atropine or placebo. The researchers found that nightly dosing with NVK002 0.01 percent, a novel, preservative-free atropine eye drop formulation, significantly increased the proportion of myopic children in the United States and Europe aged 3 to 17 years who progressed <0.50 D in myopia over three years. Analysis of the proportion of children who progressed less than 0.75 D (prespecified) and 1.00 D (post hoc) over three years demonstrated similarly meaningful reduction in myopia progression at those clinically relevant thresholds.

“Over three years, in myopic children, once-nightly NVK002 0.01 percent eye drops meaningfully slowed myopia progression at 0.50 D, 0.75 D, and 1.00 D thresholds,” Bell said. “This may reduce the longer-term progression of myopia, leading to less frequent changes in spectacle correction and potentially reducing the long-term risk of myopia complications such as retinal detachment and glaucoma.”

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Press Release

In a retrospective case series, Zeeshan Haq, M.D., of Retina Consultants of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues found that most patients with predominantly no or minimal diabetic retinopathy have no worsening in their disease status after initiation of semaglutide.

Using data from the Intelligent Research in Sight^® Registry, the authors performed a retrospective case series that included patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus for whom nonoral semaglutide was initiated with at least three months of follow-up. The number of eyes included in the study was 96,432, of which 71.8 percent had either no or background diabetic retinopathy. The researchers found that the proportion of patients who experienced a worsening of their diabetic retinopathy status was low (1.3 to 2.2 percent) at all studied time points (three, six, 12, and 24 months).