Eye Health America and Verséa Ophthalmics Form Preferred Supply Partnership

Eye Health America (EHA) announced a preferred partnership supply agreement with Verséa Ophthalmics. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

EHA is an ophthalmic provider offering strategic and operational support to practice groups and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) in the southeast United States.

Verséa Ophthalmics, which is based in Tampa, Florida, specializes in ocular point-of-care diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Under this new agreement, Verséa will supply its innovative human amniotic membrane product and cutting-edge tear-based point-of-care (T-POC) Quantitative Testing Platform.

According to the EHA press release, Verséa Ophthalmics will provide its Biovance and Biovance 3L Ocular as the preferred dehydrated human amniotic membrane tissue products used within EHA practices and ASCs to support the treatment of ocular surface disease and ocular surgical applications. In addition, EHA will pilot Verséa’s POC testing platform in select offices before a staged expansion groupwide.

Biovance and Biovance 3L Ocular are single-layer and three-layer (3L) allografts, respectively, that are intended for use as a biological membrane covering that provides an extracellular matrix.

Biovance 3L Ocular is acellular and consists of three layers of amniotic basement membrane that supports treatment of advanced ocular surface disease. As a barrier membrane, Biovance 3L Ocular is intended to protect the underlying tissue and preserve tissue plane boundaries. Applications include corneal and conjunctival-related injuries or defects such as corneal epithelial defects, pterygium repair, fornix reconstruction, and other procedures, many of which are relevant to EHA practices and their eye care professional teams.

The T-POC Quantitative Testing Platform is used in the diagnosis and management of patients with ocular surface disease. The platform includes total Immunoglobulin E (IgE), which is a key biomarker associated with ocular allergies, and lactoferrin, a biomarker for aqueous deficient dry eye.

EHA noted that the symptoms of dry eye disease and ocular allergies often overlap and may mimic each other. T-POC testing generates a numerical value that enables clinicians to differentially diagnose a patient’s condition and to inform the prescribing decision. If the test is repeated after initiation of therapy, it may allow for confirmation of a desired therapeutic response.

“We are delighted to establish this new partnership with Verséa Ophthalmics which will allow our eye care professionals to utilize the T-POC Quantitative Testing Platform and Biovance and Biovance 3L Ocular products to deliver more targeted diagnostic and therapeutic solutions to improve patient care for their ocular surface disease patients and for patients undergoing ocular surgery,” commented EHA’s co-CEO John Swencki in the press release. “I am confident that Verséa Ophthalmics will be an outstanding partner to EHA practices and surgery centers to provide the best options for the patients our clinics and ASCs serve.”

Rob Sambursky, MD, President, Verséa Ophthalmics, added, “Our preferred partnership supply agreement with EHA allows us to deliver a novel point-of-care testing platform to inform treatment decisions and a unique decellularized, ringless, advanced placental-sourced tissue product line to more patients suffering from ocular surface diseases or undergoing ocular surgery.”

Dr. Sambursky continued, “As a corneal specialist myself, I know how important it is to specifically identify and treat underlying disease and have witnessed first-hand how innovative tissue-based ocular therapeutic interventions can improve patient outcomes for ocular surface diseases and ocular surgery.”