Ophthalmic Start-Up Chief Executive Officers' Perceptions of Development Hurdles

Purpose: To identify current challenges facing ophthalmic pharmaceutical start-ups in developing new products. Methods: Surveys were distributed to the chief executive officer (CEO) or president of ophthalmic start-ups. Results: The survey attracted 24 responses from 78 surveys distributed (31%). The CEOs stated that a lack of financial capital (n = 18, 75%), FDA regulations (n = 6, 25%), and failure to meet clinical endpoints (n = 6, 25%) were their greatest development hurdles. Risk aversion to medicines in early development (n = 18, 75%), mergers and acquisitions reducing corporate choice for licensing agreements (n = 7, 29%), the emergence of large pharmaceutical-based venture capital funding groups (n = 12, 50%), and the failure of many large pharmaceutical companies to develop their own medicines (n = 10, 42%) were noted as recent prominent trends affecting fundraising. Conclusion: The study suggests that development funding, regulatory burden, and meeting clinical endpoints are the greatest development challenges faced by ophthalmic start-up CEOs. (C) 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel