AAO 2026 Debrief: Retina's Durability Race & A Stargardt Pill Heads to an FDA Decision

The Pharma Closeout's AAO 2026 Debrief covers the readouts from the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting in New Orleans that matter for drug, device and payer strategy. Kodiak's DAYBREAK and Ocular Therapeutix's SOL-1 show retina's durability race: fewer injections than fixed-schedule aflibercept, with Eylea HD and Vabysmo untested and the old standard going biosimilar. Belite Bio's tinlarebant heads to a February FDA decision in Stargardt disease, Beacon's VISTA data back a gene therapy filing, and Nanoscope's optogenetic therapy holds at four years. Plus geographic atrophy's next bets, two GLP-1 eye studies pointing in opposite directions, Lytenava's billing-code gap, and what to watch: the October 30 myopia advisory committee and the February 12 Stargardt decision.0:00 Cold open and introduction1:06 Story of the Congress: retina's durability race (Kodiak, Ocular, EyePoint)4:29 The old standard goes biosimilar5:08 Inherited retinal disease moves into the FDA queue: Belite, Beacon, Nanoscope8:00 Geographic atrophy: PRIMA, K8 and OCU4109:45 GLP-1 drugs and the eye: two studies, two directions11:01 Roundup: Lytenava's billing code, Oculis, SpyGlass12:14 What to watch: the myopia advisory committee and the Stargardt decisionAlex Mercer and Maya Patel host. Get the daily rundown in your inbox — subscribe at https://thepharmacloseout.com.