For more than a decade, the Pretoria Eye Institute has been involved in several international and local phase 2 and phase 3 clinical research studies. Over 300 patients have been enrolled in these studies, some of them doing long haul studies for as long as 3 years. Various procedures and treatment interventions that are now common place in eye treatments, such as intra-ocular lowering drugs were first tested following stringent protocols at the Pretoria Eye Institute.

Patients for these studies are recruited by the primary ophthalmologists as well as from doctors and clinics in the surrounding areas. They are screened and need to comply with strict inclusion and exclusion criteria prior to study involvement. Safety and efficacy are primary areas of data collection in phase 2 and 3 studies and many examinations and special investigations to ensure the patients well-being are done. Data collected is submitted to the relevant Clinical Research Organization under the scrutiny of the Medicine Control Council of South Africa, the various Ethics bodies and the FDA of America and any other relevant governing bodies.

Amongst others, major studies done in the past decade have included the pharmacological treatment of seasonal conjunctivitis, vernal kerato-conjunctivitis, several glaucoma modules of treatment such as trabeculectomy followed by pharmacological interventions, and five IOP lowering topical medications. More recently, in the past 5 years, the Pretoria Eye Institute has become involved in clinical trials with intravitreal injections for the treatment of various
conditions, such as Retinal Vein Occlusion and Diabetic Macula Edema.

The Pretoria Eye Institute is also involved in sub studies, where there is concern regarding the possible ophthalmic involvement of a non-eye related condition, such as Parkinson's and schizophrenia and an investigation product. The responsibility of the Research group is then to do a thorough eye examination, special investigations as pre-determined by the sponsor company and submit the data for safety collection. All this data is collected end forms part of the information given with each drug.

Doctors at the Pretoria Eye Institute are also involved in their own independent studies. They have to submit their hypothesis and protocol for approval, work under an ethics committee if new medications or procedures are involved, and submit their data to an independent statistical department for analysis. Much of the information collected in this manner is then
shared with colleagues at conferences or in the form of articles, published in leading medical journals.