Welcome

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the 7th International Symposium on Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ISOPT) in Budapest, Hungary.
This biennial Symposium follows the path of six previous meetings that have become now a tradition in the education and update activities in ophthalmic non-surgical therapeutic modalities. The field of medical interventions for serious ophthalmic indications is sizzling with new inventions, developments and applications:

• Merely five years ago, visual improvement in AMD was not heard of. Today, we are looking at further improvements and advancements with new sets of references set up by a variety of VEGF inhibitors.

• Developments in glaucoma are looking for new mechanisms of action to reduce IOP such as modification of tissue cytoskeleton and effective modes of neuroprotection. New modes of evaluation of optic nerve head structure that will allow better understanding of the rate of progression and tissue loss in glaucoma are now under development and undergoing validation processes.

• Ocular inflammatory diseases are now amenable to new therapeutic approaches such as tissue necrosis factor (TNF – alpha) inhibitors. New products that modulate the immune system in specific targets are under development: effective B cell antagonists and drugs that specifically target T cells through their IL2 receptors.

• Drug development in dry eye and surface pathology is making  steps out of the wetting era to new agents that deal with the real pathology, targeting inflammatory factors that drive the pathological processes into real tissue damage.

• Ocular drug delivery is changing the way we used to look at topical ocular therapy. Intraocular injections and drug release devices have become standard of care for some indications. New and old concepts on the verge of realization are expected to lead the therapeutic arena in the near future.

In this reality of new developments, ISOPT holds a major role focusing on new therapeutic algorithms as they emerge. Being updated in ophthalmic therapeutics is becoming imperative for all practitioners appreciating the vast changes in the field. ISOPT provides this opportunity with wide variety of topics in ocular therapeutics and pledge to be an effective educating event. Thus the ISOPT program is geared to provide a continuum, spreading from basic development of therapeutic concepts to their utilization as drugs and technologies in clinical reality.

ISOPT also provides a platform for discussions and considerations of drug development with the main players in the field i.e. academics, clinical investigators, regulatory affairs and the industry professionals. Topics of mutual interest will be raised in round table discussions as well as updates on drug development process including end-points evolution and ethical considerations. 

We welcome you to seventh ISOPT that promises to be a most exciting and rewarding symposium in beautiful Budapest.