The “T” in JOPT

In 1984, George C.Y. Chiou of Texas A&M Medical School started the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology. The Journal provided a vehicle for the publication of original basic and clinical research in our specialized field, where pharmacological principles are applied to ocular conditions and diseases. In 1995, the name of this publication was changed to Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (JOPT).

Trained as pharmacologists, we understand the importance of the discipline of pharmacology to human health. This includes an understanding of physiology in the normal and pathological states, pharmacokinetics (the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of exogenously administered drugs), and pharmacodynamics (the actions of the drug, off-target effects, and in some cases, activity of metabolites). In particular, the eye offers challenges and opportunities for unique pharmacology—local delivery, unique circulatory systems for blood and aqueous humor, “protected/privileged” immune status, and relative lack of CYP450 metabolic enzymes. JOPT publishes approximately 120 articles per year on these topics.

However, the “T” in JOPT was added for good reason. The “T” stands for Therapeutics, which may be defined as the branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of disease and the action of remedial agents. Neither of our diplomas has the word therapeutics on it. However, “therapeutics” is the reason we selected the discipline of pharmacology—to “reduce to practice” the knowledge of medications. We entered pharmacology, rather than a host of other sciences, in order to research and develop agents that will benefit patients.

The “T” is not only in the Journal title, but it is also in the name of our sponsoring society, the Association of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics. It is also in the name of the leading American pharmacology societies, the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) and the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT). Not surprisingly, it is in the title of the “blue bible” of our discipline, Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics.

Therapeutics related to eye disease encompasses a broad domain. While small molecules are the most common ocular therapeutic, recent advances in biologicals (antibodies and peptides), gene therapies (engineered viruses, coding and noncoding RNAs), novel delivery modalities (nanotechnology, sustained release implants, microneedles), and surgical techniques and devices (IOLs, artificial retina, shunts, stents, valves) may improve the quality of life for millions of patients. On the horizon are cell-based and personalized therapies for ocular disease/conditions, custom formulated for the unique needs of an individual patient. JOPT welcomes submissions covering all of these topics.

In reviewing articles for the Journal, as well as in our professional lives, we use the lens of therapeutics. Given two equally interesting opportunities, we prefer the one that might one day result in patient benefit, rather than one that is merely an intellectual challenge. We hope that readers and authors of this Journal will consider the patient in their research. Our colleagues who worked for the Eli Lilly Company in previous decades remind us of their motto at that time—“The patient is waiting.”