Vision Loss News and Research

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Hearing tests needed for children

The importance of hearing testing isn't widely understood by many parents. Parents may schedule appointments with an opthamologist for an eye exam for their children at regular intervals - but never think to similarly schedule a hearing test with an audiologist.

21 Apr 2010

Spring is busting out all over - and so are eye allergies

Ah, spring. The time of year when trees and flowers bloom sending pollen into the air and causing sneezing, runny noses and watery eyes. The Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America estimates that 1 in 5 individuals are affected by eye allergies.

15 Apr 2010

Scientists develop new guidelines to help doctors diagnose brain tumours in children

Scientists at Birmingham Children's Hospital and the Universities of Nottingham and Southampton have developed new guidelines that should help doctors to diagnose brain tumours in children more quickly.

15 Apr 2010

Implanting blue light-filtering IOLs during cataract surgery may help preserve retina health

Implanting blue light-filtering intraocular lenses during cataract surgery helps maintain visual function and may preserve the health of the retina, specifically in disease states such as age-related macular degeneration, according to a comprehensive review published in the May/June 2010 edition of Survey of Ophthalmology.

13 Apr 2010

Secretary of Health announces five health research grants to improve health of Pennsylvanians

Secretary of Health Everette James today announced five health research grants totaling approximately $20 million will be awarded from Pennsylvania's share of the national tobacco settlement for 2009-2010.

8 Apr 2010

Altheos to fund development of ATS907 Rho-kinase inhibitor with completed $20M Series A financing

Altheos, Inc., a privately held early-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it has completed a $20 million Series A financing led by Bay City Capital. New investors Novo A/S, Canaan Partners, Life Science Angels and Atheneos Capital also joined the round. The financing will be used primarily for the development of ATS907, a selective Rho-kinase inhibitor Altheos licensed from Japanese pharmaceutical company Asahi Kasei Pharma. The license also includes a series of highly active compounds (AK138 series) specifically for topical treatment for glaucoma.

5 Apr 2010

New guidelines will make it easier to evaluate the cost of visual impairment studies

New guidelines that outline best practices for measuring the economic burden of visual impairment will make it easier for the policy, science and medical communities to draw conclusions and compare results across studies.

3 Apr 2010

Scientists use non-viral, synthetic nanoparticle carrier to restores vision

Take a look at this: Scientists from Buffalo, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City made a huge step toward making the blind see, and they did it by using a form of gene therapy that does not involve the use of modified viruses.

1 Apr 2010

BVA unveils wide-view neurostimulator concept, prototype bionic eye

Bionic Vision Australia today unveils their wide-view neurostimulator concept - a bionic eye that will be implanted into Australia's first recipient of the technology.

31 Mar 2010

Vision CRC scientists discover new technology to control myopia

Scientists from the Vision Cooperative Research Centre in Australia today announced that myopia, or short-sightedness, can be controlled with new technology. This ground breaking discovery was based on research conducted by Vision CRC partners - the University of Houston College of Optometry and the Brien Holden Vision Institute, located at the University of New South Wales.

31 Mar 2010

Dian Donnai receives March of Dimes/Colonel Harland Sanders Award for achievement in genetic sciences

A pioneering professor and investigator at the forefront of genetic services in the United Kingdom and who helped define rare genetic diseases is the 2010 recipient of the March of Dimes/Colonel Harland Sanders Award for lifetime achievement in the field of genetic sciences.

27 Mar 2010

New topical drug may help treat diabetic eye disease

Early-stage human clinical trials showed that a new topical drug was safe and had biological effects in a type of diabetic eye disease, and may offer researchers a new approach to prevent and treat diabetic macular edema.

26 Mar 2010

Isotechnika Pharma releases fourth quarter financial results; reviews operational and scientific highlights for 2009

Isotechnika Pharma Inc. has released its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2009 and provided a review of the Company's operational and scientific highlights for 2009

25 Mar 2010

Special medicated contact lenses can help treat common eye disorders

The popular dietary supplement vitamin E, loaded into special medicated contact lenses, can keep glaucoma medicine near the eye - where it can treat that common disease- almost 100 times longer than possible with current commercial lenses, scientists reported here today.

25 Mar 2010

Can-Fite BioPharma files patent application for treatment of Uveitis with A3 adenosine receptor ligands

Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company, traded on the TASE and developing anti- inflammatory and anti-cancer drugs, announced today the filing of a patent application, in conjunction with the United Stated National Institutes of Health (NIH), for the treatment of Uveitis with its A3 adenosine receptor ligands.

23 Mar 2010

ISCO commences second phase of testing RPE derived from parthenogenetic stem cells

International Stem Cell Corporation, announced today that ISCO's Research and Therapeutic Development Group, together with a group of scientists from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), is starting a second phase of essential pre-clinical experiments to test retinal pigment epithelium derived from parthenogenetic stem cells. Follow on pre-clinical experiments will be conducted to rescue vision in disease models.

18 Mar 2010

Manitoba government: AMD drug Lucentis will be funded through centralized vision program

Manitobans with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) received a dose of good news. The Manitoba government announced that Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) will soon be funded through a centralized vision program, effective June 1, 2010.

18 Mar 2010

Acucela, Otsuka Pharmaceutical granted FDA Fast Track designation for ACU-4429 in treatment of dry AMD

Acucela Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing new treatments for blinding eye diseases, and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., today announced that they have received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ACU-4429, an investigational oral treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD).

17 Mar 2010

Age-related macular degeneration affects central vision in older Americans

Indianapolis resident Harry Traugott was an active retiree, participating in community events, driving and even teaching English as a second language at two community centers. He’d been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but the disease had not caused significant vision loss. It wasn’t until he had trouble seeing while driving, watching television

11 Mar 2010

StemCells reports net loss of $5.23M for fourth-quarter fiscal 2009

StemCells, Inc. today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2009. The Company's results include the operations of Stem Cell Sciences Plc (SCS) since April 1, 2009.