LOS ANGELES & MUNICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ELT Sight, Inc. today announced the creation of their Scientific Advisory Board. The group of internationally recognized ophthalmic and glaucoma key opinion leaders will collaborate with ELT Sight to bring the company’s ExTra ELT device, which has already received a CE mark in Europe, into clinical testing in the United States and to expand its international use. The ExTra ELT laser device is used to lower intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma following an excimer laser precision-based method.
ELT Sight recently announced that in the largest published study to date on ELT, the ExTra ELT procedure plus cataract surgery was superior to ab interno trabeculectomy with the Trabectome plus cataract surgery in survival analysis.
“We are excited to bring together this group of world-renowned glaucoma specialists,” said Elliot Friedman, Chief Executive Officer of ELT Sight. “Their expertise and leadership in the ophthalmology field will help propel us closer to clinical testing of ExTra ELT in 2020 and regulatory approval in the U.S.,” he added.
Members of the Scientific Advisory Board include:
- Iqbal Ike K. Ahmed, MD: Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
- Richard A. Lewis, MD: Co-Founder of Sacramento Eye Consultants; Past President, American Glaucoma Society and American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons
- Antonio Fea, MD, PhD: Head of the Glaucoma Unit, University of Torino
- Thomas W. Samuelson, MD: Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Minnesota; Glaucoma and Anterior Segment Surgery, Minnesota Eye Consultants
- Marc Toeteberg-Harms, MD, FEBO: Senior Attending Surgeon, Director of Glaucoma Service, University Hospital Zurich
- Thomas Neuhann, MD: Founder and Medical Director, MVZ Prof. Neuhann; Chief, Eye Dept., Red Cross Clinic, Munich
- Nathan Radcliffe, MD: Ophthalmic Surgeon, Microincisional Glaucoma Surgery Center; Associate Clinical Professor, New York Eye & Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai
- Antonio Moreno Valladares, MD, PhD: Ophthalmic Surgeon, University Hospital of Albacete
Dr. Ike Ahmed stated, “Using the precision and microinvasive qualities of excimer laser technology, ELT holds promise as a microinvasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) procedure. Currently available evidence shows an intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering effect from ELT alone or in combination with cataract surgery with encouraging results across different studies and patient populations and a favorable safety profile.”
“ELT has several potential advantages, including that it does not rely on a permanent device inserted into the anterior chamber or destroy the outflow pathway as with trabectome and some goniotomies,” commented Dr. Fea.
Dr. Valladares added, “ELT is a non-implant-dependent MIGS technique that offers a wide range of advantages over other trabecular techniques, with a high safety profile, a short learning curve and a proven long-term efficacy, which is easily combinable with cataract surgery and which does not compromise the success of future filtering surgeries.”
About ELT Sight
ELT Sight, Inc., based in Los Angeles and Munich, Germany, is focused on effective, safe and longer-term microinvasive glaucoma surgery with its ExTra excimer laser trabeculostomy (ELT) device. Sustained intraocular pressure reduction and decreased medication use have been shown across multiple European studies with ExTra ELT, which received a CE Mark in 2014. ELT Sight plans to begin clinical studies of ExTra ELT in the United States in 2020. ELT Sight was spun out of MLase AG, a global leader in the development and manufacturing of innovative laser systems. For more information visit https://www.eltsight.com
