Getting Started in Ophthalmic Research

VO-CRO was established by Dr. John S. Penn, who has over 35 years in conducting pre-clinical experiments using ophthalmic disease models. After coming to Vanderbilt as a professor, he created a lab to design and conduct efficacy studies, partnering with organizations worldwide to develop drugs for blinding eye conditions. His dedication to understanding the mechanisms of retinal disease positioned VO-CRO to contribute significantly to the advancement of drugs towards clinical testing and into the marketplace.

Ophthalmic Research and Development

Over the years, we have worked with dozens of clients from prestigious academic institutions to Fortune 500 companies to recent start-ups. The focus has, and always will be, on bringing drugs to the worldwide market that will benefit patients with blinding eye diseases.

VO-CRO seeks to apply its collective knowledge, expertise and infrastructure to the discovery and development of new drugs for the treatment of blinding eye diseases. To this end, VO-CRO designs meaningful and well controlled experiments, executes them with the highest standards of rigor and precision, analyzes acquired data without bias and employing sound statistical approaches and, using the experimental findings attained, supports the translation of its clients’ test compounds to clinical application. Central to VO-CRO’s objectives is the explicit understanding that the reliability of the data it produces is valued above all else.

Our team is poised to offer consultation and guidance on disease mechanisms of action, target identification and validation, experimental design, and many other objectives.