Théa SAS Cases - Terms and Conditions

Article 1 – Overview

Thea Health Excellence & Academic SAS Doctors Case Study Competition 2024-2025 is designed to encourage thought, discussion and sharing of best practice in ophthalmology eye care between September 6th 2024 and February 16th 2025.

Participants present clinical cases they were involved in that fit with the topic ‘When glaucoma and ocular surface disease collide!’.

Cases are submitted to a national selection board of ophthalmologists (national panel of expert judges), which selects the best presentation (1st prize, £1,500 towards attendance at a relevant ophthalmology congress) and two second best cases (two 2nd prizes, £500 towards attendance at a relevant ophthalmology congress).

Registration and case report submissions are made online at https://www.thea-pharmaceuticals.co.uk/theasascases.

Article 2 – Participants

Candidates must be UK based registered healthcare professionals working in eye care.

A candidate can only submit one case report.

Article 3 – Submission of case

The case report can involve one or several patients.

Submitted cases must be original (i.e. not previously published). The case must include presentations, diagnoses and/or management of glaucoma or ocular surface disease.

A dedicated website will inform the candidates of the rules of the contest. Candidates have to register online and submit their case written in English on this website before February 16th, 2025.

The case must be submitted by the candidate who must be the author and should not be submitted by anyone else on their behalf. Co-authors can be declared however the grant will be attributed exclusively to the main author who submitted the case.

The author must declare any competing interests.

When submitting their presentation online, the candidate:

• certifies that they have legal capacity to participate in the contest;
• shall not breach any confidentiality agreement with their employer or any other third party;
• fully accepts the current rules;
• certifies that they were personally and directly involved in the management of the case;
• certifies that the submitted case is original and has not been previously published ;
• certifies they have any and all authorization and approval to include the corresponding documentation (photos, video, etc.) in the case report
• shall indemnify, defend and hold Thea Pharmaceuticals harmless from and against any and all third-party claims, suits, proceedings, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from their negligence or wilful misconduct in connection with Thea Health Excellence & Academic SAS Doctors Case Study Competition.

If there is any interest which might be considered prejudicial to the independence of a candidate, such conflict of interests should lead to the rejection of the candidate.

Subject to UK legislation or to any code of conduct regarding medical professionals in the UK, the candidate certifies that such regulation doesn’t prevent him/her from participating in the contest, in particular in consideration of his/her status as resident. Should UK regulations require that the candidate declares or asks prior approval for his/her participation in the contest, the candidate shall be responsible for such declaration and shall keep available to Thea Pharmaceuticals the proof of such procedure.

Thea Pharmaceuticals shall comply with applicable UK law, regulation or code of conduct regarding the declaration to a medical council or any competent entity where the resident or fellow is registered and with the reporting and declaration to a public audience or a competent authority of any interests it may have with the resident or fellow.

Article 4 – Case structure

The presentation should be written in English in Word format. Illustration of the case by pictures and imaging is recommended. A maximum of 10 pages is allowed. The clinical case should be divided into the following sections (in this order):

• Title page: with the title of the case without identification of the author.
• Introduction: The introduction section should explain the background of the case, including the disorder, usual presentation and progression and an explanation of the presentation, the management, the outcome and any relevant details to support your case.
• Case presentation with illustrations and figures: The case presentation should contain a description of the patient’s relevant demographic information (without adding any details that could lead to the identification of the patient); any relevant medical history of the patient; the patient’s symptoms and signs; any tests that were carried out and a description of any treatment or intervention. If it is a case series, then details must be included for all patients. Cases should include clinical photographs, provided these are accompanied by written consent to publish from the patient(s) or are completely anonymous.
• Discussion: This is for additional comments that provide any additional relevant information not included in the case presentation, and that put the case in context or that explain specific treatment decisions.
• Conclusion: A brief conclusion of what can be learned from the case report and what the clinical impact will be/was. Information should be included on how it could advance knowledge and awareness of the topic. This section should clearly state the main conclusions of the case report and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance.
• References: Numbered references to support the findings citing author/organisation, year of publication, title, title series and/or URL.
• Declaration of interests: The authors must declare if there are any possible conflicts of interest - competing interests are relevant to the submitted work.

The full author's name, qualifications, institutional addresses, current position they hold at institutions or societies, or any other relevant background information and email addresses must not be included in the case presentation to ensure anonymous and impartial judging of the submission.

The presentation and appendix (image, figures, illustrations, other) shall:

• be anonymous;
• not infringe upon the privacy or personal rights of others;
• not contain any sensitive information;
• not be the copyright of any other entity unless this is acknowledged.

Article 5 – Process

The selection of the best cases will be completed in April 2025.

Winners will be notified by email.

The national panel of expert judges will receive all clinical cases and they will judge them according to the competition criteria.

Contestants will remain anonymous until the end of the contest. To ensure an independent and fair vote, initials will be allocated to each submission. These initials will be used throughout the entire process and will not be disclosed to the contestant nor the juries.

Thea Pharmaceuticals will not release any information that might help identify the contestants. Likewise, members of the juries will remain anonymous to the contestants.

The evaluation will be based on the following criteria to obtain a final mark out of one hundred:

• originality;
• clarity;
• demonstration of the link between glaucoma and ocular surface disease;
• illustrations.

The national panel of expert judges shall select the winners in April 2025. The decision of the national panel of expert judges will be final and binding.

Winners will be informed by email before June 1st 2025.

Article 6 – Important dates

February 16th, 2025 – deadline for submission of the cases;

April 2025 – selection of the best cases by national juries;

May 2025 – announcement of winners.

Article 7 – Awards

Cases of each winner will be published on the Thea UK website.

All winning cases will be published in materials created and published by Thea and distributed at congresses, online via our website and may be used for other educational and promotional purposes.

Article 9 – Intellectual property

Thea Pharmaceuticals reserves the right to use and reproduce the clinical cases with the pictures included and the name and photograph of participants in order to organize public relations activities.

For this purpose, by accepting the present terms and conditions, the Participant expressly and irrevocably grants to Thea Pharmaceuticals a royalty free, irrevocable and worldwide license to use all or parts of the intellectual property rights (writing, drawings and models, pictures, etc.) arisen from the establishment of the case report.

This license is granted for the legal duration of protection of the licensed rights as defined by the UK Thea Health Excellence & Academic SAS Doctors Case Study Competition 2024-2025 Intellectual Property Code.

The licensed rights pertaining to the case report includes notably:

• The reproduction right, meaning the right to reproduce or to have reproduced, in a number at Thea Pharmaceuticals’ convenience, the elements of the case report either in whole or in part, on any known or unknown tangible supports, such as paper format or electronic format;
• The right of representation, which is the right to release or to have released publicly the elements of the case report either in whole or in part, either alone or associated with other elements, by any tangible means, including on the Internet; this right notably implies the rights for Thea Pharmaceuticals to publish, diffuse, and edit any document containing the elements of the case report either in whole or in part;
• The right of adaptation which is the right to directly or indirectly adapt the elements of the case either in whole or in part on any supports, including notably the right to modify them and to insert them into other documents or elements;
• The right to translate into any language including computer language the elements of the case either in whole or in part.

The participant declares to be the sole holder of the intellectual property rights on the contents of the elements of the case report and declares that the aforesaid the elements of the case report do not include any reproduction and/or adaptation of any work of the mind of third parties in whole or in part or more generally, any reproduction and/or adaptation of any right of third parties.

Article 10 – Data privacy

All personal data about the candidates will remains anonymous to participating jurors until the end of the contest.

Participants agree that personal data, especially name and address, may be processed, shared, and otherwise used by Thea Pharmaceuticals for the purposes and within the context of the Thea Health Excellence & Academic SAS Doctors Case Study Competition 2024-2025 and any other purposes outlined herein. The data may also be used by Thea Pharmaceuticals in order to verify the participant's identity, postal address, and telephone number or to otherwise verify the participant's eligibility to participate in the contest.

Participants have the right to access, review, rectify, cancel or delete any personal data held by Thea Pharmaceuticals by writing to Thea Pharmaceuticals Ltd IC5, Keele University Science & Innovation Park, Keele, Staffordshire IC5 5NT.

Article 11 – Modification of the rules

Thea Pharmaceuticals reserves the right to amend the articles of these rules, without notice, mainly to reflect changes in legislation, judicial decisions, new regulatory rules, and recommendations made by organizations responsible for the administration of the Internet.

Every modification will be announced on the Thea UK website.

Article 12 – Miscellaneous

The present rules are construed under UK law.

Any and all disputes arising from the interpretation of these rules shall be settled amicably. In case of persistent disagreement on their application, and the absence of agreement, any dispute shall be exclusively settled by the competent courts of the UK.

In the event that any provision of these rules shall be found to be unlawful, void or, for any reason, unenforceable, such provision shall be deemed severed from, and shall in no way affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions.