At the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Annual Meeting, Jai Parekh, MD, and Phil Gioia, of Nordic Pharma, talk about patient response to Lacrifill for dry eye disease.
Jai Parekh, MD:
Well, Phil, it’s day two here at ASCRS LA 2025. It’s been an amazing last couple of days for us for Nordic Pharma. I’m thrilled to be by your side. What are some of your initial feelings about the meeting and how it’s going for us here at Nordic?
Phil Gioia:
Thanks, Jai. It’s been tremendous. We’re still active in our booth, and what’s been amazing for us, and we’ve been talking about this now for the last day, is the receptivity that we’re getting at our second ASCRS now really getting into the launch of Lacrifill, and we’re seeing that physician adoption and the physicians that we’re speaking to are now talking about how their patients are feeling, how they’re doing. Maybe I can throw that back to you, Jai, and talk about our patient survey and then also what you’ve seen with patients.
Jai Parekh, MD:
I mean, 10 months into launch, it’s been a terrific launch in dry eye. There’s so many great companies, just a few hundred yards away from me that are launching some great products, mainly on the pharmaceutical side. Obviously, we’re on the interventional side with Lacrifill, and the early adoption amongst over now 1000 practices, 35,000 patients, both optometry and ophthalmic ophthalmology offices, has been really impressive. Yes, we just want to make sure, not only that our physicians are happy, but our patients are happy, so we did a survey, which came out just a couple of months ago, and it showed that almost 100% of our patients actually wanted to get the second refill done, the Lacrifill which would would get done in 6 months. They’re willing to get it done based on how they felt on their initial Lacrifill, and that’s impressive. As a surgeon, I’m looking maybe for 60%, 70%, 80%, maybe 80%, but it’d be 98%, almost 100% is quite good. The doctor uptake has been fantastic. It’s been added to their portfolio, their armamentarium in treating dry eye.
We’ve been doing punctal occlusion for decades now. Some of my colleagues, I didn’t even know this, haven’t been doing punctal occlusion because it did have some drawbacks. Secondary inflammation, pyogenic granulomas, sizing is an issue. It sometimes falls out. With Lacrifill, you get a true fill, a true lacrimal occlusion with 98% water and 2% hyaluronic acid. I agree with you. The buzz here has been terrific. This is our second ASCRS. Last year was our launch, and here we are now almost a year into it.
Phil Gioia:
I would just add a couple of points. Well said, Jai, is that in addition to the physicians getting very much accommodated to the administration of Lacrifill, to their patients who are clearly benefiting from the results of Lacrifill that you just highlighted, is the fact that reiterating Lacrifill is also bound by a CPT code, an established CPT code.
Jai Parekh, MD:
That’s right.
Phil Gioia:
68761.
Jai Parekh, MD:
Good point.
Phil Gioia:
They’re getting reimbursement. It’s a revenue generator. While patients are first, the practice itself is now benefiting from the ability to do 2 things. One, to own compliance. We talk about eye drops, which are so important in all types of ophthalmology treatment, and now with dry eye in particular, and some challenges with compliance, et cetera, we can take that compliance and put it in the hands of our providers. They come and they get their administration of Lacrifill. As Jai pointed out, Lacrifill lasts 6 months. It’s safe. If it needs to be reversed, it can be, but now also the practice is also generating revenue in a space that they weren’t historically. Maybe a little bit more on that, Jai.
Jai Parekh, MD:
No, that’s true. I mean, a lot of us do a very good job at taking care of the patient with the pharmaceuticals. There’s a lot of great pharmaceuticals that have come out the last 18 months, 2 years. Really terrific, and all colleagues and friends of ours. Ours is unique. We’re an intervention. We’re a full occlusion. We’re a lacrimal occlusion, and yes, like Phil said, whether you’re private equity owned or not, we all look at our P&Ls as business owners in eye care, both ophthalmology and optometry. They create value, a revenue stream so you can reinvest back into the practice, take care of the patient, and maybe a fuller way. We are an end product. Sure, you could use us alone if you wish, but a lot of folks will still use their anti-inflammatory, their anti-evaporative product, and then use it as well. I think that’s a great way to take care of patients, a portfolio management like we see in glaucoma.
It’s been a win-win, obviously for us as we’ve launched this, but for sure, our stakeholders are really the optometrists, the ophthalmologists, and obviously the patient. Happy patient, happy physicians, and happy Nordic.
Phil Gioia:
We are a global company. We recently received our CE mark, and we’ll be launching in Europe beginning of next year. The team there in Europe, some of our colleagues are here now, seeing what we’re experiencing in the US launch, they’ll be able to take that and prepare for their launch in Europe. Really delighted to be bringing Lacrifill again, but now in a very comprehensive way to our providers here at ASCRS, so I thank you very much.
Jai Parekh, MD:
Thank you.
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