An Innovation Landscape That Leaves Patients Behind

Corneal infections and diseases requiring corneal transplantation are major causes of preventable blindness worldwide, with the greatest burden concentrated in low- and middle-income countries. Corneal infections alone cause blindness in approximately 2 million new patients each year, often resulting in permanent vision loss, need for surgery, or loss of the eye. Yet the tools and therapies available to diagnose and treat corneal infections have remained stagnant for decades. Our most effective antifungal eye drop was FDA-approved in 1978, and the latest class of antibiotics commonly used to treat bacterial keratitis was approved 30 years ago. Innovation in corneal transplantation has been similarly stagnant. Penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) and deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) remain mainstays of treatment for severe infection, yet PKP was developed over a century ago and DALK several decades ago, with few transformative advances in surgical techniques or postoperative care since then. Few large prospective trials have answered fundamental questions about how physicians should best diagnose, treat, and manage these leading causes of blindness.

The root cause of this barren scientific landscape is not a shortage of promising ideas, but rather a lack of infrastructure, funding, and coordinated research leadership needed to translate innovations into improved patient outcomes. Corneal disease burden is greatest in settings that have historically had the least access to research expertise. Prospective studies and clinical trials remain slow, expensive, and operationally difficult, while fragmented data collection, heterogeneous outcome assessment, and limited translational research infrastructure impede the path from discovery to clinical validation. The result is a stark mismatch: the populations with the greatest disease burden and clinical need have seen the least scientific investment, the weakest evidence base, and the slowest pace of therapeutic and surgical innovation.

IMPACT was created to break this cycle. We build durable clinical and translational research infrastructure within high-volume centers serving the populations most affected by corneal disease, connecting extraordinary clinical volume with harmonized prospective data, imaging, biospecimens, and clinical trial capabilities. This creates an integrated pathway from preclinical discovery and biomarker development to diagnostic validation, therapeutic evaluation, and clinical trials, enabling innovation where the disease burden, unmet need, and opportunity for impact are greatest.