Ophthalmology

We are focused on pioneering therapies to prevent vision loss, working to discover and develop innovative solutions, aiming to redefine standards of care for people living with vision impairment.

image of a female doctor holding a sample in her hands and staring at it

Challenge

A global issue

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.

Change in sight

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.

Focus

A top priority

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.

Personalised approach

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

Word Health Organization. Blindness and vision impairment. [Internet; cited September 2021]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment
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

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