Disease Awareness Activities During World Glaucoma Week (March 9-15) Will Highlight Importance of Early Detection and Treatment
～Helping to Promote Glaucoma Awareness Worldwide～

March 7, 2025, Osaka, Japan – Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter Santen), a company specialized in eye health, constantly strives to improve patient Quality of Life (QOL) and reducing the social and economic losses caused by eye diseases and issues by improving the convenience of treatment for people around the world. As part of this continuing effort, Santen will be carrying out a variety of awareness-raising activities in conjunction with World Glaucoma Week (WGW), a global campaign dedicated to raising awareness of glaucoma that takes place from Sunday, March 9 through Saturday, March 15, 2025.

Glaucoma damages the optic nerve, leading to visual field defects, and in many countries is a major cause of visual impairment—including vision loss and blindness.^1,2 Since the disease is typically progressive and irreversible, controlling progression through early detection and treatment is essential.

Today, Santen is raising awareness of glaucoma on a global scale—including Japan, China, Asia, and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)—and actively sharing information about the importance of regular eye exams for early detection.

Santen Eye Health Information Room accounts on X and Facebook and the Santen page on LinkedIn will be publishing a comic strip created by manga artist and glaucoma patient Naomi Ogura. Santen hopes to raise awareness that everyone is at risk of developing glaucoma, but that with appropriate treatment, people diagnosed with glaucoma can expect to live full and active lives.

The “Our Stories” page of Santen’s corporate website, which introduces company activities in story format, will publish an interview with manga artist and glaucoma patient Ogura Naomi. The article will look at the circumstances leading up to Ogura’s diagnosis, how she came to terms with glaucoma, her thoughts on treatment, what is important to her, and how she maintains the motivation to continue treatment. The article will also communicate the importance of regular eye exams.

Our Stories: https://www.santen.com/en/stories

Following the success of Your Vision Is Your World, a creative and emotive campaign shedding light on the challenges faced by glaucoma patients, Santen EMEA is launching the next chapter of this powerful initiative from March 10, 2025. In this follow-up video, Santen will reunite with some of the original protagonists as they watch their compelling stories unfold on screen for the first time. Guided by Dr. Neeru Vallabh, University of Liverpool, they reflect on the profound and ongoing impact of glaucoma in their lives. Through this heartfelt conversation, the campaign continues to emphasize the critical importance of regular eye-checks and early detection of this sight-threatening disease. By sharing these deeply personal experiences, Your Vision Is Your World evolves, offering a new level of emotional resonance - bridging the perspectives of both patients and doctors.

To extend its reach even further, Santen EMEA will amplify the campaign with a series of social media initiatives throughout World Glaucoma Week, reinforcing the importance of regular eye checks and early detection.

The link to the video can be find here: https://vimeo.com/1056017591/88900ccd59.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/santen/

Raising awareness of glaucoma is important because early diagnosis can prevent the disease from progressing to blindness. Santen has positioned glaucoma as a major therapeutic area, and its global organization is conducting research and development on drugs with new mechanisms of action and combination drugs that reduce the burden on patients. Santen is also providing healthcare professionals with communication tools that can help encourage patients to adhere to their treatment regimen. Santen will continue to do its best to improve glaucoma patient QOL by providing medical professionals with a variety of treatment options.

References

1. Flaxman S et al. The Lancet Global Health (2017) 5: e1221–34
2. Steinmetz JD et al. The Lancet Global Health (2021) 9: e144-60

Please refer to the following website for more information about World Glaucoma Week.
https://www.worldglaucomaweek.org/

About Santen
As a specialized company dedicated to eye health, Santen aspires to contribute to the realization of “Happiness with Vision” by providing products and services to patients, consumers, and medical professionals around the world. Since its establishment, and guided by its CORE PRINCIPLE, “Tenki ni sanyo suru,” Santen has been committed to helping people maintain and improve their eye health for more than 130 years. Santen is engaged in the global research and development, manufacturing, and sales and marketing of pharmaceutical products in the field of eye care, supporting the eye health of approximately 50 million people in more than 60 countries and regions worldwide. Santen’s mission is to provide essential and significant value to patients and society in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of eye diseases through products and services created from its expertise in the ophthalmology field and from the patient's perspective. To create a future in which as many patients as possible can lead happy and fulfilling lives, Santen is committed to doing its utmost to realize a society in which people around the world can experience “Happiness with Vision.”
For more information, please visit Santen’s website https://www.santen.com/en.

Contact
Corporate Communications
Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
E-mail: communication@santen.com