Myopia care lacks tools to flag poor treatment responders

Repeated multi-country approval studies are slowing new myopia treatments from reaching patients worldwide.

Myopia management is advancing, but researchers still need better ways to identify which patients will respond to treatment whilst companies face regulatory hurdles that can slow product access.

During the Asia-Pacific Myopia Management Symposium (APMMS) 2026, Paul Chamberlain, Senior Director, Clinical Research & Operations, R&D, at CooperVision in the US, said the field is still relatively young despite progress in answering key clinical questions. One of the biggest gaps is predicting treatment response before time is lost on an option that may not work well for a patient.

“I don't think that we have a good handle, for instance, though, on what patients would respond well or not so well to treatment,” Chamberlain said.

A major research target is whether biomarkers can be measured at the time of fitting. Chamberlain said that could help clinicians identify likely responders earlier and change course sooner if another treatment is more suitable.

Research is also moving towards prevention. Chamberlain said there is growing interest in whether current myopia-control interventions can be used to prevent myopia, not just slow its progression. Another priority is dose response, including whether higher-dose or combined treatments can produce stronger outcomes.

“I think that's another really exciting area, which we'll start to learn more about now, as we're starting to get multiple generations of products,” Chamberlain said.

The challenge is bringing those advances into routine care. Chamberlain said regulatory requirements remain one of the biggest barriers for product developers because studies often need to be repeated across multiple countries and over several years before market entry.

“Quite often for us as product developers in companies, we're having to repeat studies in multiple countries and for multiple years to be able to get the product into market,” Chamberlain said.

For CooperVision, the near-term issue is not whether new ideas exist, but whether approval pathways can keep pace. Chamberlain said “the pace of innovation might be slower than our actual innovation ideas,” making regulatory complexity a major obstacle to wider access.