Victoria Conference 2023: Staying current with the AMD landscape

Jay M. Haynie, OD, FAAO, FORS, shared highlights from his 2023 Victoria Conference presentation, "AMD updates: Stay current with its landscape," while onsite with Peg Achenbach, OD, FAAO, Executive Director of Global Ambassador Strategies Ophthalmology and Optometry for MJH Life Sciences®, the parent company of Optometry Times®.

The 2023 Victoria Conference, presented by the Pacific University College of Optometry, was held July 13-16, 2023, in Victoria, BC.

Peg Achenbach, OD, FAAO:

We are here today at the Victoria Conference, put on by Pacific University College of Optometry, and this is Dr. Jay Haynie. He spoke today on age-related macular degeneration. If you could give us a brief summary of your lecture today, and the lectures that you've given in the days past.

Jay M. Haynie, OD, FAAO, FORS:

Of course, and thank you for the honor to give this interview here.

I just concluded with a lecture on macular degeneration and the title was, "Staying current with its landscape."

There's a lot of things that have changed in regards to macular degeneration, and we now have a recent approval of a new drug called pegcetacoplan, approved to treat the advanced form of AMD—geographic atrophy. I also reviewed the treatment selection and how we are selecting our patients in my own private practice in Tacoma, Washington.

I also reiterated the very importance of diagnosing the neovascular side of AMD early through the advances in technology such as fundus autofluorescence, spectral domain, OCT, as well as OCT angiography. So I'm hopeful that we are better clinicians and can diagnose this disease early. We have almost 2 decades of data with anti-VEGF treatment to preserve patients' vision—in some cases, restore vision—but certainly reduce the risk of developing central vision loss over time.

Achenbach:

Great. So what do you think are some of the most important things for optometry to know relative to macular degeneration and retinal disease?

Haynie:

I think the importance and what optometry should know is: stay current with the treatment modalities. There's a lot clinical trials going on looking at variable ways of treating the dry form of AMD, we have a very well-established platform of medication to treat neovascular AMD. What's important for optometry is really stay current with the AMD landscape, monitoring your patients, educating them on the importance of follow-up, keeping them in the loop on the better treatment paradigms, and certainly, those patients who are at risk of developing advanced disease should be followed sooner, as we now have proven therapies for both sides—wet and dry.

Achenbach:

Great. And also if you could comment on the Victoria Conference and how long you've been associated with the Victoria Conference and what you think of it.

Haynie:

So the Victoria Conference is great. I'm a graduate of Pacific University and I've been blessed to be invited as faculty, I believe this is my fourth or fifth trip up here. And every trip that we come up here is beautiful. The weather is always beautiful. The venue is very close to the harbor, walking distance to everything and certainly a lot of tourist activities, including whale watching, which I personally am going on this afternoon. But it's a great conference. The Canadians welcome us up here and certainly the venue is one of the best that I attend.

Achenbach:

Great. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here.

Haynie:

You bet. Thank you, too.