25 June 2026
Finding new treatments for glaucoma is personal for David Chute.
The entrepreneur and architect of the Glaucoma Research Foundation’s Treatment Accelerator Initiative was diagnosed with glaucoma in his 30s.
Over the following decades, he has tried an array of eye drops and surgeries to keep vision loss at bay. But glaucoma has continued to lay an inexorable path of destruction to his retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL).
While his visual field results are still reasonable, he has lost half his RNFL in one eye, and a third of his RNFL in the other.
“You begin to think ‘What if I go blind? What if I can't earn a living for my family? What if I can’t see?’” he said.
“You just don’t really know what your trajectory is going to be,” Chute highlighted.
His personal experience as a glaucoma patient has provided impetus for his professional mission to break down the barriers that stymie new glaucoma treatments before they reach patients.
Since 1978, Glaucoma Research Foundation has funded groundbreaking research in genetics, diagnostics, and novel therapeutics for glaucoma for patients like Chute.
In contrast to many other organisations, GRF provides funding for glaucoma research at the ideas stage before proof-of-concept results are generated.
The Treatment Accelerator Initiative, which was launched by Chute in partnership with GRF chief executive, Tom Brunner, provides funding and resources needed to advance novel, experimental therapies.
Chute shared that the qualities that make a great researcher and innovator can work against them when seeking investment.
“They see beyond what exists in front of them, which makes them great inventors, but sometimes not great businesspeople,” Chute observed.
“Businesses exist to replicate without error. They are efficient, but risk adverse,” he added.
A particular frustration for Chute is that many of the approved treatments for glaucoma focus on lowering intraocular pressure rather than mitigating damage to the optic nerve.
Chute sees the bottleneck in glaucoma innovation lying in a lack of investment rather than an absence of promising therapies.
“We have enough potential treatments to completely revolutionise the treatment of glaucoma, but we have to get past this constraint where the traditional early-stage investors won't put money in,” he said.
Besides helping to fund first-in-human and Phase 1 clinical trials, the Treatment Accelerator Initiative is designed to lower other barriers to commercial launch.
We have enough potential treatments to completely revolutionise the treatment of glaucoma, but we have to get past this constraint where the traditional early-stage investors won't put money in
It does this through a range of measures, including supporting research teams that are navigating the US Food and Drug Administration approval process, helping researchers secure their intellectual property to attract investors, team building and development planning.
Chute hopes that using his skills and experience from the world of business will aid the implementation of innovative research.
“It’s a little bit like patient advocacy to the extreme,” Chute said.
“I am trying to regain control over my fate, and hopefully help 80 other million people in the process,” he added.
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