Blindness News and Research

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Oraya Therapy safe and effective for patients with wet AMD

Oraya Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that one of the patients who successfully was treated for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with Oraya Therapy during the INTREPID clinical trial has released data showing he has experienced significant, sustained vision improvement more than two years after treatment in his right eye, without any subsequent anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections or other treatment.

1 Mar 2013

UPV/EHU team uses lipid nanoparticles to develop new formulations for drug delivery

At the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Basque Public University (UPV/EHU) the Pharmacokinetics, Nanotechnology and Gene Therapy research team is using nanotechnology to develop new formulations that can be applied to drugs and gene therapy.

1 Mar 2013

Orphan, CU to develop enzyme replacement therapy for CBS-deficient homocystinuria

The University of Colorado (CU) has signed exclusive, worldwide licensing and collaboration agreements with rare-disease research-and-development firm Orphan Technologies Ltd to develop an enzyme replacement therapy for Cystathionine Beta-Synthase (CBS) -deficient homocystinuria, a rare, inherited metabolic disease that is often fatal at a young age.

25 Feb 2013

Study finds new mutation in UBIAD1 gene that causes Schnyder corneal dystrophy

Research conducted by Dr. Jayne S. Weiss, Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, and colleagues has discovered a new mutation in a gene that causes Schnyder corneal dystrophy (SCD.)

22 Feb 2013

UCSD molecular biologist to receive Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

Napoleone Ferrara, MD, PhD, the molecular biologist credited with helping decipher how tumors grow and now senior deputy director for basic sciences at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, was today named one of 11 recipients of the inaugural Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, which comes with a $3 million cash award.

21 Feb 2013

UCLA plays a vital role in ongoing research into Rasmussen encephalitis

How do you find a cure for a devastating pediatric brain disease so rare that it can take decades to build a meaningful research base? In 2010, the parents of a patient created the Rasmussen Encephalitis (RE) Children's Project to help solve this problem. In a short amount of time, the foundation has raised funds to establish a consortium of top researchers, build a collection of samples of the disease from around the world and support projects to study the disease tissue and search for genetic links. The goal is to find a cure.

20 Feb 2013

More people meeting recommended goals in three key markers of diabetes control

More people are meeting recommended goals in the three key markers of diabetes control, according to a study conducted and funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

16 Feb 2013

Study identifies regions of genes linked to Beh-et's disease

Researchers don't know the exact cause of Beh-et's disease, a chronic condition that leads to oral and genital sores and serious complications such as blindness, but new research brings better understanding to what makes some people more susceptible to being affected.

16 Feb 2013

Pediatric blindness etiology varies around the globe

The causes and prevalence of blindness in children vary markedly by geography, presumably as a proxy for socioeconomic factors influencing prevention and treatment schemes, conclude the authors of a literature review.

15 Feb 2013

Second Sight Medical Products receives FDA approval for Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, the first implanted device to treat adult patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

14 Feb 2013

Novel approach uses adult stem cells to save sight of diabetes sufferers

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast are hoping to develop a novel approach that could save the sight of millions of diabetes sufferers using adult stem cells.

14 Feb 2013

Disease eradication efforts set sights on polio, Guinea worm

"It's not a race, exactly, but there's an intriguing uncertainty about whether a former U.S. president or a software magnate will cause the next deliberate extinction of a species in the wild. Will Jimmy Carter eradicate Guinea worm before Bill Gates eradicates polio?" Wall Street Journal commentator Matt Ridley asks in his "Mind & Matter" column.

13 Feb 2013

$Scientists discover 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia$

Scientists discover 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia

An international team of scientists led by King's College London has discovered 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia (short-sightedness).

10 Feb 2013

Single gene therapy session can cure diabetes

Researchers from the Universitat Aut-noma de Barcelona (UAB), led by F-tima Bosch, have shown for the first time that it is possible to cure diabetes in large animals with a single session of gene therapy. As published this week in Diabetes, the principal journal for research on the disease, after a single gene therapy session, the dogs recover their health and no longer show symptoms of the disease.

10 Feb 2013

'Better Vision' app can support visually impaired and dyslectic people

To support visually impaired and dyslectic people in their efforts to read, the 'Better Vision' app has been developed: a functional and handy all-in-one app that magnifies text and reads English, German, Spanish or Dutch text out loud on iPhones, iPads (mini) and Android devices.

6 Feb 2013

Selective laser trabeculoplasty promising for glaucoma

Selective laser trabeculoplasty leads to significant reductions in intraocular pressure in people with primary open-angle glaucoma, a study has found.

6 Feb 2013

Dual-hormone artificial pancreas shows promise against type 1 diabetes

IRCM researchers, led by endocrinologist Dr. R-mi Rabasa-Lhoret, were the first to conduct a trial comparing a dual-hormone artificial pancreas with conventional diabetes treatment using an insulin pump and showed improved glucose levels and lower risks of hypoglycemia.

29 Jan 2013

Reprogramming eye cells that enable night vision may one day treat retinitis pigmentosa

Doctors may one day treat some forms of blindness by altering the genetic program of the light-sensing cells of the eye, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

29 Jan 2013

Takeda receives FDA approval for Nesina, Kazano and Oseni to treat type 2 diabetes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved three new related products for use with diet and exercise to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes: Nesina (alogliptin) tablets, Kazano (alogliptin and metformin hydrochloride) tablets, and Oseni (alogliptin and pioglitazone) tablets.

28 Jan 2013

Gene therapy does not slow or halt progression of cell loss in Leber congenital amaurosis

Independent clinical trials, including one conducted at the Scheie Eye Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine, have reported safety and efficacy for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a congenital form of blindness caused by mutations in a gene (RPE65) required for recycling vitamin A in the retina. Inherited retinal degenerative diseases were previously considered untreatable and incurable.

23 Jan 2013