Penny Stewart, Alcon Australia and New Zealand Country Leader and Surgical Franchise Lead.
Seven months into her role as Australia and New Zealand Country Leader and Surgical Franchise Lead at Alcon, Penny Stewart is excited by a new series of product innovations that will drive growth and increase access to eye health for public and private health patients.
Having listened to Ms Stewart recount her own experiences with vision, it is easy to understand why.
One of the three key pillars in Alcon’s mission statement directly touches on Ms Stewart’s personal journey. The company states that it aims to achieve “Brilliant lives” by “improving vision for patients with uncorrected refractive errors, with vision impairment from cataracts, who require VR (vitreoretinal) surgery, or those who live with dry eyes or glaucoma”.
Other than glaucoma, she experienced all these conditions before reaching the fourth decade of her life.
Focussed On Outcomes
When she was five years old, Ms Stewart was diagnosed with myopia during a routine eye screening in kindergarten.
By the time she was midway through high school, she was dependent on glasses.
“I could always read, but I did a lot of dancing and performing, and I grew up on the beach. I found not being able to see well incredibly difficult.
“I was excited when I got my first pair of contact lenses when I was 15. But by the time I was in my early 20s I couldn’t wait to get laser. I was extremely myopic and had an astigmatism as well.”
Post-LASIK, Ms Stewart had “amazingly clear vision for about 10 years” until she began to develop floaters in her left eye, which she found more obstructive to her vision than her myopia had been.
Vitreoretinal surgery returned her to clear vision, however soon after, when she noticed she had dry eye, she was referred to an ophthalmologist who diagnosed cataract.
“My vision deteriorated really fast. By the time I went to have my first procedure on my left eye I was really struggling to see into the distance.”
In the six weeks it took between cataract surgeries, Ms Stewart’s vision in her right eye had significantly deteriorated. With four young children and having recently commenced a new senior leadership position, she said the challenges kept mounting.
Cataract surgery in Ms Stewart’s right eye was successful and today she has better long vision than she has ever had and has adjusted (begrudgingly) to wearing glasses for near work.
Despite these ongoing challenges, Ms Stewart said she never considered giving in to the challenges of poor vision.
“I’m a very determined woman. For me, eye surgery has never been frightening or daunting, I was far more focussed on the outcome I would get from each procedure. The adjustment for reading glasses was probably the biggest thing, and it still bothers me.”
The Employment Lottery
Having experienced the challenges of living with low vision Ms Stewart said landing the job at Alcon was “like winning the employment lottery”.
“It’s very exciting to be part of an organization that is so focussed on one clinical area: to be the market leader in eye health. Here, there is a genuine commitment to the purpose of helping people to ‘See Brilliantly’.”
Highlighting the high individual, societal, and economic costs of long wait times in the public health system for cataract surgery, she said a priority for her in the next 12–24 months is to increase access to the latest innovations in eye health for all.
This includes ensuring equitable availability and access within public health, and greater use of presbyopia correcting intraocular lenses (PC IOLs) in private hospitals and day surgeries.
Via patient education and awareness, she hopes to “increase the number of surgeons who are offering PC IOLs to their patients and increase access to treatment for lower socioeconomic and indigenous populations”.
Driving Growth
Ms Stewart said she is enthusiastic about the new products that will drive Alcon’s growth over the next two years. This includes Alcon’s IOL Portfolio, which is being transitioned to Clareon, the company’s newest hydrophobic biomaterial. The Clareon Monofocal and Monofocal Toric IOLs, both of which are now available, are already “gaining strong clinical acceptance among ophthalmologists”. The Clareon PanOptix launched in June and will be followed by Clareon Vivity in 2024.
Having moved into the glaucoma space with the acquisition of Ivantis, Ms Stewart said another promising area of growth for Alcon was minimally invasive glaucoma surgery.
With the purchase of Ivantis came the Hydrus Microstent, which is designed to lower eye pressure for open-angle glaucoma patients in connection with cataract surgery.
“A priority for the glaucoma team is to ensure continuity of the business relationships with existing implanters, as well as looking at future growth through increasing adoption, by increasing the number of cataract surgeons offering Hydrus to their patients with glaucoma,” she explained.
Building Connectivity
Finally, Alcon is rapidly expanding its digital solutions for diagnostics, visualisation, and refractive surgery that will eventually connect the Alcon “ecosystem between the clinic and the operating theatre”.
“Delivering digital connectivity through a connected ecosystem of devices, supported through our expertise in service and clinical applications, presents an opportunity to provide a single Alcon experience for our customers and their patients,” she said.
To develop a deeper understanding of sector needs, Ms Stewart has travelled across Australia and New Zealand to meet Alcon’s surgeons and customers.
At a time when cataract surgeries show no sign of abating and an increasing frequency of natural disasters is impacting the ability to get product to hospitals and surgeries, Ms Stewart acknowledged the need to build trust in supply chains and support.
“This includes building and strengthening our team, and strengthening and continuously improving our supply chain, distribution, and warehousing.
“We are critically evaluating and working at every point along that process to continuously improve our service delivery and customer experience.”
Finally, she said Alcon “has an opportunity and responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of our products, of which approximately 90% are manufactured internally”. Initiatives like the expansion of Alcon’s relationship with Plastic Bank and the switch to sustainable cold chain packaging for the shipment of its ophthalmic viscosurgical devices across Australia are already setting the direction.
