Thomas Ruggia, CEO and President of Theialife, delves into pediatric progressive myopia, a severe form of nearsightedness caused by the elongation of the eye in children, which can lead to significant long-term health issues. The development of their novel oral therapy is designed to address the underlying physiology of the eye by strengthening the sclera to halt its elongation, unlike other treatments that only manage visual acuity. This oral therapy is available in capsules that can be opened and sprinkled on food, making it patient-friendly and child-compliant, avoiding the need for often hard-to-administer eye drops.

Thomas explains, "Myopia is known as nearsightedness, and I think everybody is familiar with folks who wear spectacles for nearsightedness, or contact lenses, or have had LASIK surgery. But pediatric progressive myopia is a subset of myopia that is particularly difficult."

"The pediatric progressive myopia is a disease that's a bit different than just standard nearsightedness. Someone who might be minus two myopic can easily correct their vision with glasses. In this type of condition, generally, parents have a child who is having some difficulty seeing, and the next year, the child has extreme difficulty seeing. And then every year following, things get worse and worse. They end up at the optometrist or ophthalmologist for extensive recalculating their prescription, new glasses for those years of maybe between six and 16 years old."

"We're actually talking about a disorder that continues for the life of the patient that leads to significant challenges between the ages of, let's say, 40 and 80, where this elongated eye, which is what the condition really is, leads to challenges in retina detachment, maculopathy, early cataracts, and other conditions that are unique to the myopia patients."

"So we have a number of medical devices and pharmaceutical interventions that are being studied today, all of which have an effect on the visual acuity a patient might experience, but none of them affect the underlying structural changes in the eye during that time period. And our ND10 from Theialife has the potential to do so."

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