Ophthalmology

Worldwide, more than 1 billion people live with vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed.1 Millions of people live with eye conditions that increase their risk of sight loss.2 Visual impairment can have a devastating impact on those people affected, including patients and their caregivers.

With new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmic conditions being explored as we speak, this is a global health challenge that we at Roche are committed to and excited to tackle, alongside the low vision community.

Our team is built around the experience of ophthalmologists, ophthalmic surgeons and retinal specialists, who bring on-the-ground insights to their work at Roche every day. We are innovating to improve diagnosis and transform patient experience and outcomes – by understanding the biology of ophthalmic conditions and what this means in practice to people living with vision loss.

We partner with researchers, clinicians and patient groups from the low vision community to ensure we understand the needs of people experiencing vision loss - so we can try to meet these needs through our approach to innovation, our clinical trial programme and our medicines and technologies in development.

This means examining new data and analytical sources such as real world data, exploring new technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning. Importantly, we're developing digital health solutions to help better detect and monitor disease progression and pioneering new therapeutic options like gene therapy, working to deliver a personalised approach to eye health.

References

1. Word Health Organization. Blindness and vision impairment. [Internet; cited September 2021]. Available from:

2. Flaxman SR, Bourne RRA, Resnikoff S, et al. Global causes of blindness and distance vision impairment 1990-2020: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2017; 5:1221-1234