OSAKA, Japan—Santen Pharmaceutical and Orbis International announced a partnership to develop a suite of digital training tools that will continue to help eyecare professionals around the world build their skills. Through the three-year, global partnership, Orbis and Santen will create online courses, live surgical demonstrations, and artificial intelligence (AI) focused on glaucoma, a leading cause of avoidable blindness. The digital tools will be available in Chinese, providing a best-in-class, standardized teaching curriculum in that language.

The collaboration will utilize Orbis’s award-winning telemedicine platform, Cybersight, which has some 25,000 users across 199 countries. Through this partnership, Santen, a global leader in ophthalmology with a strong focus in glaucoma, can enable access to these distant learning tools for more eyecare professionals, especially in remote rural areas.

By adding to the growing body of educational resources available in languages beyond English, Santen and Orbis aim to expand the number of eyecare professionals who can benefit from the platform.

“Santen values the advancements that can be made through collaboration and digital learning, and especially in times like these, this partnership will be another step forward for better eyecare for millions of patients,” said Shigeo Taniuchi, president and CEO of Santen.

“Digital resources and solutions are critical to ensure doctors can provide optimal care to their patients. This partnership combines Orbis’s innovative technology in ophthalmic training and our global industry knowledge to enhance our joint mission of improving eye health for people around the world.”

Dr. Danny Haddad, chief of programs at Orbis International, added, “Technology has opened so many doors in our work to end avoidable blindness. This initial step in the new partnership with Santen is very significant for Orbis because it allows us to further strengthen Cybersight offerings and reach more ophthalmologists in more countries. As we increase eyecare professionals’ access to training in their local language, we are ensuring that more patients get the quality care they deserve.”

Amid the current public health situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, record-breaking numbers of eyecare professionals have registered for Cybersight and taken advantage of the platform’s learning opportunities, according to Orbis.