Committed to ending avoidable sight loss

For Astellas, every day of lost vision is one too many. 

Recently Astellas’ joined IAPB as a Band A member, as we are committed to supporting people with vision loss: to help build a brighter future in which retinal diseases that cause blindness are treatable, and ultimately preventable. We are excited to begin our role as an active partner to the global eye health community and are dedicated to understanding and responding to the unmet needs of people living with vision loss. 

Astellas is a leading global pharmaceutical company who have traditionally worked in oncology, women’s health, chronic kidney disease, overactive bladder and immunosuppression.  

Our experience in ophthalmics  

Whilst our focus in ophthalmics has increased over the past year, we have been working in this space for more than 10 years, in early research and development. Our scientists have been exploring innovative therapies to significantly improve vision loss caused by macular degeneration, such as geographic atrophy (GA), Stargardt disease, retinitis pigmentosa, and glaucoma.

Our focus 

We feel that we’re at the start of our journey and we have a lot to learn from those who support and advocate for people with low vision. It’s important for us to take time to listen to, learn from and collaborate with those who have experiences and insights that far exceed ours. To do this, our immediate goals are to:  

• Understand how Astellas can support the vision loss community  

• Advocate for the vision loss community, using our global footprint to support, advance and innovate the work already being done by patient organisations 

• Be recognised as a credible and trusted partner to the vision loss community  

Making a difference to people’s lives 

Astellas has a dedicated Patient Centricity division that work to understand the patient experience, medical need and behavioural drivers of care. Our Patient Partnerships team, which fosters and builds trusted relationships with patient organisations, like the IAPB. Through these partnerships, we listen, learn and align our priorities to reflect what matters to patients.  

In the last year we have attended conferences to connect with the vision loss community. As well as hosted meetings to introduce patient organisations to our senior leadership team.  

We understand how precious sight is, and the impact sight loss can have on all aspects of life. Whilst a cure is always the goal, we have learnt from patients that slowing or stopping further sight loss is invaluable. This has strengthened Astellas’ determination and commitment to do more in the ophthalmics space. 

How the IAPB is making Astellas a better organisation?  

The IAPB’s ‘Love your eyes’ campaign has challenged us to think about what more we can be doing for people with vision loss, and also about what more our employees can be doing. This year we are launching an internal photography competition to highlight the impact of vision loss and the importance of eye health and regular eye checks, to enable our employees to carry these important awareness messages to the wider world 

We look forward to working with Nick Parker and the IAPB team!