The Eyesight Sessions

Welcome to the Eyesight Sessions, a series focused on the people in the Ophthalmology and Eyecare markets. These interviews are designed to focus on leaders in the space; their journey, their influences, what they are currently working on and their passions outside of eyecare.

In the fifth edition of the Eyesight Session, I caught up with Sahil Syed , Global VP of Glaucoma Sales and Marketing at CILIATECH - Glaucoma Innovators . I had the pleasure of working with Sahil at the end of last year and it was great to learn more about what he has been getting up to since taking on his new role, his advice for newcomers to the industry and what he gets up to when he isn't focused on the glaucoma space.

So firstly, for those in my network who may not have had the pleasure of connecting with you, can you give us a brief introduction to yourself and your role at Ciliatech?

Sure!? I am actually Ciliatech’s first ever hire outside of the local France team and was brought in in January of this year to head up their commercialisation strategy as Global Vice President, Sales & Marketing.? Being a true start-up, my role involves a plethora of obvious and not so obvious duties that one may envisage under the role heading.?

So far in my initial 8 months I have been sharing our product concept with important Key Opinion Leaders around Europe for the first time, setting up groundwork for additional clinical trials, creating surgical instruction sets for surgeons, constructing a full surgical wetlab training infrastructure, organising and executing regulatory testing for product labelling instructions, training surgeons on their first ever use of our device for our existing clinical trials, been interviewed as part of our company ISO certification process, have been building a commercial sales and marketing plan launch plan for investors, have written articles for online publication, have been leading communications teams for our company press releases, have overseen new European market research, have been creating a new brand identity for our product (which we will be releasing in the coming months!), attended 2 x important ophthalmic congresses, have been rebuilding the company website (again, yet to be released!) been creating new video promotional content, been managing our social media channels and have now just finished developing a brand new 3D visualisation tool for our device – the Intercil Uveal Spacer!?

Over the last 6 months we've seen more and more exciting news from Ciliatech. But for anyone who may not have been following, can you tell us more about the company's mission, device and more about what you have been up to since joining?

So the ‘Intercil? Uveal Spacer’ will be a brand new concept in surgical glaucoma devices.? It’s a supraciliary implant made from fully flexible hydrophilic acrylic (as per very commonly used IOL material – hence fully biocompatible).? The device is implanted directly into the supraciliary space using a bespoke ab-externo surgical implantation technique which results in being able to access this important anatomical space without having to open the anterior chamber of the eye, and without the need for a cleft in the AC.?

This method is designed to enhance uveoscleral outflow by restoring this important naturally occurring pathway.? We know from IOP lowering drugs that the uveoscleral pathway is important and potentially very potent in its effect, but so far none of our peers have succeeded in finding a long-term surgical solution that has comprehensively stood the test of time in for this anatomical target space – that’s what we are hoping to achieve here at Ciliatech with Intercil?!?

From the initial conversations that have been had with Key Opinion Leaders from the work highlighted above, I can say there is genuine interest and curiosity in how Ciliatech are seeking to tackle the problem – Key Opinion Leaders are very keen to learn more.? We have also just finalised the engagement of an incredible group of global Key Opinion Leaders in Glaucoma to help take us forwards – again, we will be sharing more exciting news on this in the coming weeks!

Ciliatech’s Intercil Uveal Spacer is currently undergoing multiple clinical trials with additional trials planned for the future. What are the upcoming milestones that we should watch out for?

As you correctly say, we are seeking to undertake more clinical studies to further validate the very promising efficacy and safety results that we have seen in the 4 clinical studies that we have so far started.?

?We are also currently finalising our regulatory submission for MDR CE mark which when achieved, will enable us to start a first ever commercial launch in Europe.? At the same time we are seeking to achieve an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA which will enable us to start a key clinical trial in the USA ready for further important launches in North America

?These are key and exciting times!

Focusing more on your background in the space, when were you first exposed to the ophthalmology industry and what has kept you working in it for so long?

My first entry into ophthalmology came in 2007 when I started working for Allergan .? Here I was involved in promotion of existing and new product launches for some important brands that have stood the test of time in Ophthalmology.?

My 6 years at Allergan gave me the most awesome grounding in ophthalmology and I’ve never really left since!? What has kept me in the space is continual innovation, involvement in multiple exciting product launches and the switch from pharma to surgical which really ramped my interest even more so in this great specialty.? Being in the cutting edge of the operating room seeing the excitement from surgeons and patients at what new technologies can do for patients’ vision makes the role very real from end-to-end.?

I am lucky enough now with Ciliatech to be involved in the development of my third ever brand-new launch in MIGS which is a space I am particularly enthusiastic about!

And during this time, who would you say in the industry has been the biggest influence or had the biggest impact on your career so far?

I owe a debt of gratitude to one of my old bosses David Trevor who himself went from Allergan into start-up venture and I was blessed when he came back for me and offered me my first ever step into a leadership position which I grabbed with both hands and have never really looked back since.?

During the same time, I got a chance to work even closer with another one of my previous bosses who I was then lucky enough to work alongside as a peer.? Having watched how he worked during this time, I would regard him as probably one of my biggest influences as I have always admired how he runs his business.? He inadvertently provided me with the picture of what good really looks like as a leader.?

He probably doesn’t know that I gush about him this much, but he’s about to find out, haha!!!!!? That person is Michael Armistead of VISUfarma UK

For people who may just be getting started in an eyecare related career (or ‘the medical device industry’ in general), what is the best piece of advice that you would offer them?

Stay as close to customers as you can, listen to them, learn from them and try and understand how THEY make sense of their world and your technology

Be careful of being pulled too much into the internally synthesised commercial world too much.? It is frightening how quickly you can end up in an ‘echo-chamber’ where commercial folks rationalise a picture of the word that suits their narrative, but is often detached from the reality of how customers tackle their world.? There is a strong narrative that everything we do as an industry is about the patient – of course, this is indeed true.? But ‘logistically’ the majority of the time the industry works for patients without direct contact with them, it’s all through doctors/surgeons/allied HCPs etc – and so in my view it is these folks whom we as industry, should be laser focussed upon serving

My advice is to seek to make yourself a perceptive, observant, balanced all-seeing ‘agent’ of both sides (customer and company) so that you can strive to achieve yours and your companies’ commercial aims by serving your customers with excellence and integrity that is validated by the view of the world that your customers hold

Additionally when seeking ‘job security' rather than do this by seeking favourable contractual terms, or predicting and picking products and companies whom you think will stand the test of time, instead be your own job security.? Learn your role, be curious, build relationships with customers and colleagues, always add value and execute with excellence.? Work hard, learn the lessons, and then be brilliant as an employee.? My saying is “make yourself indispensably employable, and you will always be employed….”? Then, even if a current employer doesn’t see your value, you are guaranteed that someone else in the sector will.? That for me, is true job security

Looking at the wider ophthalmology space, which areas of research or treatments excite you the most? Where do you see the most innovation?

As mentioned above, I have always been pulled back repeatedly into the Glaucoma space as there has been a tonne of innovation in recent years, there continues to be so now, and there is more coming – specifically there is continual hope and excitement if someone can crack the holy grail of neuro-protection in glaucoma.

?Outside of glaucoma and to specifically answer your question however, there have been big developments in the retina space – treatments for the big retinal diseases – AMD, DME, RVO etc continue to be refined.? We also now see first treatments for GA which was an unreachable area back when I was involved in Retina.? This is hugely exciting for patients, eye care practitioners and indeed industry.

?Beyond this, it is equally exciting to see where Gene therapy will take us in terms of treatment options for patients, or even tailored diagnosis which will enable targeted therapy.? Finally I was fascinated to see the first surgical robotics entering the (Vitro-Retinal) ophthalmic space recently as tested by a surgeon in France.? The response she received from colleagues in the ophthalmic community reflected what a step change this kind of innovation may represent.

If you weren't working in the medical/healthcare space, then what would you be doing?

Oh goodness that’s funny, well I can tell you most definitely I would be a builder!!!? I don’t speak much of this, but I am an avid fan of DIY, designing, building and fixing.? Over the years I have built a full length zipwire in the garden for my children, I have built various garden structures, I have redesigned my ground floor home into an bespoke exposed-brick office space, I’ve designed and built a full height glass wall partition, I’ve converted our small single garage into a cosy cinema room with surround sound and last year I designed and installed 148 metres of ornate panelling and LED lighting around the walls of my home! ?

?I find that being able to focus my attention on manual/physical tasks allows my strategic brain just to take a breather as it’s the latter which is constantly working actively throughout the rest of the working week!

?I’m also obsessed with my lawn and am forever striving for a lush green, weedless striped picture-perfect canvas, just like the home of football - my beloved Anfield!!!!!

For people who don’t know you, who is Sahil outside of ophthalmology? Where would we find you outside of work? Any other interesting hobbies?

I am the world’s biggest Liverpool fan!!!? I have successfully brainwashed my children and nephews along the same path too, and together we are matchday fanatics!!? Being an analytical nerd, I personally much prefer watching games from the comfort of my home (the big-screen cinema room in fact) as I get to watch replays, analyses and punditry which I actually really enjoy in addition to the game itself - all of which served for the rationale for building the big screen cinema room!!!

Apart from this I can without fail, always be found every weekend on a date in the heart of London with my wife.? It’s a little tradition that we have kept up in order to guarantee quality time with each other – after 26 years of marriage, this is something that we both make time for and always continue to look forward to every week!

Thank you Sahil Syed for taking part in The Eyesight Sessions! It was brilliant to learn more about you outside of the industry and to pass on your advice and thoughts on the future of eyecare. Make sure you follow Sahil and Ciliatech as there will be plenty of exciting news coming from them in the future.