SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 13, 2026--
Seonix Bio, a leader in the development of genetic testing for glaucoma, today announced new research published in Ophthalmology, the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s peer-reviewed journal. The publication reports that the polygenic risk score (PRS) underlying the company’s SightScore™ test can help identify people at substantially different levels of risk for developing glaucoma—and may also help predict disease progression and the likelihood of surgery.
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Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Early detection is essential because current treatments cannot restore lost vision.
SightScore uses a saliva test to identify individuals at high risk for glaucoma. Using genetic data from more than 6.5 million individuals, SightScore’s PRS was evaluated across independent cohorts representing major ancestry groups. The findings suggest that genetic risk information, used alongside clinical assessments, could help clinicians identify higher-risk patients earlier and better tailor monitoring and treatment decisions.
Key findings:
Genetic Risk Also Associated With Progression And Surgery
The study also examined longitudinal clinical outcomes in people with suspected or early-stage glaucoma. In a prospective cohort of 1,215 participants, 24% of those in the highest PRS decile had undergone glaucoma surgery by age 80, compared with none in the lowest decile. Higher PRS was also associated with retinal nerve fiber layer loss and an increased likelihood of treatment initiation or escalation within three years.
These findings point to a role for genetic testing in identifying patients who may warrant closer monitoring or earlier specialist evaluation, while helping clinicians consider less intensive surveillance for lower-risk patients. The PRS is intended to complement, not replace, clinical judgment and established assessments.
“Glaucoma care has traditionally relied on clinical measurements that may not fully capture a patient’s inherited risk or predict future disease course,” said Nick Haan, CEO of Seonix Bio. “This research shows the potential of genetic information to add a meaningful dimension to risk assessment, not only helping identify who may develop glaucoma, but also providing insight into who may be more likely to progress and require surgery. Our goal is to make this information useful to clinicians as they work to protect patients’ vision.”
Iqbal “Ike” K. Ahmed, MD, FRCSC, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Utah’s John A. Moran Eye Center and Director of the Alan S. Crandall Center for Glaucoma Innovation, is world renowned for his expertise in highly complex eye diseases, stated the following: “A persistent challenge in glaucoma is determining which patients are most likely to progress and may benefit from intervention. These findings are notable because they connect genetic risk not only with disease susceptibility, but also with progression and the likelihood of surgery. Polygenic risk scores increasingly provide important risk information, invisible to conventional testing, that can help clinicians move glaucoma care toward more individualized decisions.”
The work was based on the pioneering research of QIMR Berghofer and Flinders University, with funding from NHMRC and NIH.
Commercialization of this research received grant funding from the Australian Government and the South Australian Government's Seed-Start program.
The Ophthalmology Publication Comes Ahead Seonix Bio Co Founder’s Keynote at the Interventional Glaucoma Consortium
Taking place November 13–15 in Salt Lake City. Jamie E. Craig, MD, PhD, RANZCO, Professor Ophthalmology at Flinders University and Seonix Bio co-founder and a leading glaucoma researcher, will deliver the keynote lecture on November 14, titled “ Using Polygenic Risk to Guide Interventional Glaucoma Approaches.” The lecture will address the potential role of polygenic risk in informing interventional glaucoma care.
About Seonix Bio
Seonix Bio’s (Seonix) mission is to protect vision through genetic risk prediction. Founded in 2019, the company is focusing on revolutionizing glaucoma care with SightScore, a first-in-class polygenic risk score tool. SightScore uses a saliva test to identify individuals at high risk for glaucoma, enabling earlier diagnosis, intervention, and more personalized treatment while also identifying low-risk individuals who may benefit from less frequent monitoring. By leveraging genetic insights, Seonix is helping to enhance both the prevention and management of this sight-threatening condition.
For more information visit seonixbio.com.
SightScore Glaucoma Test Kit by Seonix Bio
DUBLIN (AP) — European nations are seeking an envoy to represent them in talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war, concerned that a U.S.-backed process will leave them sidelined and Kyiv vulnerable as Moscow and Washington decide the fate of a conflict that has roiled the continent.
Whether Europe should be represented by one person or a team — and who should take on the role — is being debated Friday as leaders from the 27-nation European Union meet at a summit in Dublin. Senior EU officials and politicians have been suggested, but there is no consensus yet.
What the job might entail is also unclear and contested. But there is broad agreement by governments from the U.K. to Ukraine on the need for Europe to join the ongoing negotiations involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington.
“This needs to be resolved," Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said as he arrived at the summit.
“I would hope that today’s discussions bring clarity around this,” he said. "It needs to be, in my view, finally decided upon within the next week or two.”
Ukraine is eager for support from its European allies. It's reluctant to leave the talks solely in the hands of a U.S. administration that has often seemed to lean toward Moscow’s views. Russia does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.
European leaders also distrust U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate on their behalf after a series of tense standoffs over trade, Greenland and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.
“Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin. “There is no more U.S. support."
“At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans,” he said.
European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will press Trump to back a peace settlement that weakens not just Ukraine but broader European security. Putin has demanded NATO troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders and that no European forces be deployed in Ukraine.
As envoys from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi, several European countries, including the U.K., France and Germany, attended discussions nearby.
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after they met in Dublin late Thursday that Europe would be part of the next round of talks. Zelenskyy said Europe would send a negotiating team, adding, "They will have a voice.”
“We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table,” Kushner said. He said Putin "is willing to give it a try.”
Supporters of a single envoy, like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argue that the absence of a united European voice has allowed individual countries or small groups to engage in freelance diplomacy.
“There are too many different groupings discussing the issue,” she said.
Meloni has criticized a series of seemingly uncoordinated initiatives, including an October call to Putin by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, that she said could undermine European interests.
Martin said that European representation at the negotiations “can't just be European Union” because the Coalition of the Willing — a group of over two dozen countries that have pledged military support to help maintain a future peace in Ukraine — “has involved far more than the European Union.”
“It's a European continentwide issue,” he said, pointing to Norway and Britain's support for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Europe must first name a representative. “The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar."
The question of who represents Europe is an old one. Europe itself is loosely defined. Is it the 27-nation EU, the 32-nation NATO military alliance made up mostly of European countries, the 29-nation Schengen zone, or the 47-nation European Political Community?
That has long frustrated Washington.
After this week's U.S.-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates, Kushner said that “if Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation.”
That echoes the famous question often misattributed to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?”
France, Germany and the U.K., the region’s top three economies collectively known as the European trio, or E3, have so far been the most engaged European group in negotiations. But while London is deeply involved with Ukraine, the U.K. left the EU in 2020.
An E3 envoy would leave out the other 25 EU nations and rankle smaller nations, like those bordering Russia and Belarus on the bloc’s eastern flank, which face constant hybrid threats, including influence campaigns and disruptive drones.
Some back a top EU official for the job. Even inside Brussels, however, there are two leading contenders: European Council President Antonio Costa and the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas.
“European security cannot be discussed without a European voice at the table,” Costa said in Dublin on Thursday. “That European voice needs to be a team effort between European nations, the European Union and NATO.”
Earlier this year, Costa faced criticism within the EU after his office set up a hush-hush back-channel with Moscow.
Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, laid claim to the envoy role Friday, saying, “I’m the one who is representing Europe in the foreign and security policy.”
“I know that the Russians don’t want me, but, you know, do we have a say, who is representing Russia?” she said. "We can’t send any person that has no institutional role like the Americans are sending.”
Another name that has been floated is Stubb, the Finnish president. He has warm relations with Trump and met in Oslo with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Kushner in October.
But some leaders deeply distrust the U.S.-brokered talks. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was critical of the negotiations, reflecting the pessimism of EU countries formerly dominated by the Soviet Union.
“In my opinion, calling them negotiations is an exaggeration," Tusk said Thursday. “We will not build a new security architecture simply because the Russian president, or someone in the United States, wishes it."
With Trump due to head to Beijing next week to meet Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said European leaders feared another “Anchorage moment,” a reference to the Alaska summit where they were stunned by Trump's overtures to the Russian leader in the absence of without Ukrainian or European envoys.
“Please, no surprises,” Merz said. "Continue to play in team Europe and in the team with Ukraine.”
Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.
Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, from left, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron chat during the EU Summit in Dublin, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin welcomes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the EU Summit in Dublin, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff, right, Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, left, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak to the media at the airport in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, speaks with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a round table meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham, left, sits next to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with other European leaders in attendance, during the Ukraine security meeting as part of the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Dublin, Ireland, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP, Pool)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron meet during the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands next to French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin as they pose for a family photo of all participants during the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
