The 17th Congress of the Asia-Pacific Vitreo-retina Society (APVRS 2024) is underway in Singapore, where the latest in the year’s hottest topics like geographic atrophy, the future of anti-VEGF therapy and diabetic retinopathy dominated once more.
One of the year’s final events on the ophthalmic conference calendar, APVRS, has seen the end of its first day here in rainy Singapore at the Suntec Exhibition and Convention Centre.
And while the focus might nominally be on Asian vitreoretinal medicine, this year’s Congress reportedly features a truly global audience of over 2,000 participants representing north of 40 countries.
The topics bouncing around the meeting rooms and conventional hall are truly global in scope, too. The sizzling debate over complement inhibition that has left an indelible mark on ophthalmology all over the planet is still burning here in Singapore, with abundant sessions on the disease on offer throughout the weekend.
One such session has already taken place on Day 1, with Prof. Usha Chakravarthy (United Kingdom) weighing in on the topic—and why the struggle is all too real to match up structural and functional endpoints in clinical trials—during the College of Ophthalmologists Lecture, which we cover in one of our Day 1 highlight sessions here.
The future of anti-VEGF therapy in exudative retinal diseases has also been heavily featured in both the meeting rooms and sidebar conversations around the venue. Prof. Timothy Lai (Hong Kong) and others addressed some of the challenges and breakthroughs in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in another highlight session, with a heavy dose of the current lineup of anti-VEGF agents—and what the future might bring.
And speaking of this future, Prof. Dennis Lam delivered the APVRS Tano Lecture on two candidate anti-VEGF alternatives under development—small-molecule KX-02 in nAMD and PA-02 for diabetic retinopathy. Find out what’s got one of the region’s foremost minds in retina so excited here.
Topics of regional interest are also abundant, with the regional situation in diseases like pathological myopia and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) also featuring heavily.
Prof. Sobha Sivaprasad (United Kingdom) also took her turn at the podium as the International Award Lecture honoree to discuss harrowing regional and worldwide disparities in diabetes and diabetic retinopathy care—and what she and her team have put forward in their blueprint to solve this critical problem.
Industry updates
We’re also following a few stories coming from the industry that will be developing over the course of the Congress.
- Roche (booth #1) teased positive interim 16-week data on faricimab in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy from their SALWEEN Phase IIIb/IV trial on patients in Asia, a noted hotspot for the disease. A sneak peek at the data showed a majority of patients with complete polyp regression, along with solid best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) gains and drying data.
The full results will be shared by Prof. Gemmy Cheung in a Roche-sponsored symposium on Sunday, November 24.
- ZEISS (booth #3) gave their Artevo 850 heads-up 3D ophthalmic microscope its Asian debut in an unveiling at their booth, with APVRS 2024 Congress President Gemmy Cheung joining in on the fun.
The Artevo 850 continues the firm’s bid to be a worldwide leader in the burgeoning state-of-the-art digital operating room market in ophthalmology, with the presence of some of the biggest names in Asian ophthalmology bolstering the German eye care giant’s profile in the space.
- PYC Therapeutics will give an update on their retinitis pigmentosa type-11 candidate VP 001 on Sunday, November 24. The results will be presented by Prof. Fred Chen (Australia) and will feature updates from a variety of endpoints in their SAD and MAD studies.
Editor’s Note: Reporting for this story took place during the 17th Congress of the Asia-Pacific Vitreo-retina Society (APVRS 2024) from 22-24 November in Singapore.
