About the Authors

Paul Mitchell

paul.mitchell@sydney.edu.au

Affiliation Department of Ophthalmology and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia

Neil Bressler

Affiliation Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Quan V. Doan

Affiliation Outcomes Insights, Inc., Westlake Village, California, United States of America

Chantal Dolan

Affiliation CMD Consulting, Inc., Sandy, Utah, United States of America

Alberto Ferreira

Affiliation Novartis, Basel, Switzerland

Aaron Osborne

Current address: Alcon Research Ltd., Fort Worth, Texas, United States of America

Affiliation Novartis, Basel, Switzerland

Elena Rochtchina

Affiliation Department of Ophthalmology and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia

Mark Danese

Affiliation Outcomes Insights, Inc., Westlake Village, California, United States of America

Shoshana Colman

Affiliation Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, California, United States of America

Tien Y. Wong

Affiliations Singapore Eye Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: Dr. Bressler's employer, the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), but not Dr. Bressler himself, receives funding from Bayer, Genentech, Inc., Roche, Novartis and Regeneron, and Steba Pharmaceuticals for sponsored projects by the Department of Ophthalmology for the efforts of Dr. Bressler. Dr. Bressler receives salary support for these sponsored projects; the terms of these projects are negotiated and administered by JHU's Office of Research Administration. Under JHU's policy, support for the costs of research, administered by the institution, does not constitute a conflict of interest. Paul Mitchell has received consultancy fees, lecture fees and travel support from Novartis Pharma AG, Pfizer, Solvay (Abbott), Bayer, Alcon and Allergan. Novartis Pharma AG also funds a retina fellowship at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, which he supervises. Alberto Ferreira is an employee of Novartis Pharma AG. Aaron Osborne is currently with Alcon Research Ltd and is a former employee of Novartis Pharma AG. Shoshana Colman is an employee of Genentech, both Novartis Pharma AG and Genentech sponsored this study. Quan Doan and Mark Danese are employees of Outcomes Insights, Inc., and Chantal Dolan is an employee of CMD Consulting, Inc.; these companies were paid for analysis work. Genentech and Novartis market ranibizumab. No financial benefit is anticipated as a result of this study. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PM NB QVD CD AF AO ER MD SC TYW. Performed the experiments: PM NB QVD CD AF AO ER MD SC TYW. Analyzed the data: PM NB QVD CD AF AO ER MD SC TYW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PM NB QVD CD AF AO ER MD SC TYW. Wrote the paper: PM NB QVD CD AF AO ER MD SC TYW.