Vision Loss News and Research

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ThromboGenics, Bicycle to develop and commercialize novel drugs for ophthalmic diseases

ThromboGenics NV, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative ophthalmic medicines, today announces that it has entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Bicycle Therapeutics to develop and commercialize novel drugs inhibiting a specific target for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases, such as diabetic macular edema.

5 Sep 2013

Study: People with cataract-related vision loss who undergo cataract surgery live longer

People with cataract-related vision loss who have had cataract surgery to improve their sight are living longer than those with visual impairment who chose not to have the procedure, according to an Australian cohort study published this month in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. After comparing the two groups, the researchers found a 40 percent lower long-term mortality risk in those who had the surgery.

5 Sep 2013

New drug-delivery strategy for central vision loss

Johns Hopkins biomedical engineers have teamed up with clinicians to create a new drug-delivery strategy for a type of central vision loss caused by blood vessel growth at the back of the eye, where such growth should not occur.

20 Aug 2013

Study shows complement activation plays an important role in inherited macular degeneration

In a study published on line this week in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, Drs. Donita Garland, Rosario Fernandez-Godino, and Eric Pierce of the Ocular Genomics Institute at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, along with their colleagues, reported the unexpected finding that in mice genetically engineered to have an inherited form of macular degeneration, turning off the animals' complement system, a part of the immune system, prevented the disease.

20 Aug 2013

Oraya Therapy Stereotactic Radiotherapy for treatment of wet AMDs now available at Optegra

Oraya Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that the Oraya Therapy Stereotactic Radiotherapy for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is now available at Optegra Manchester Eye Hospital, becoming the second facility in the UK to provide the therapy.

14 Aug 2013

Prevalence for major eye disease is higher in people with common sleep disorder

Researchers in Taiwan have discovered that people with sleep apnea are far more likely to develop glaucoma compared to those without the sleep condition. The results of this study, which is the first to calculate the risk of the disease among people with the sleep disorder following diagnosis, is published in this month's edition of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

8 Aug 2013

Regeneron, Bayer report positive results from Phase 3 VIVID-DME and VISTA-DME trials of EYLEA for DME

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Bayer HealthCare today announced that in the Phase 3 VIVID-DME and VISTA-DME trials of EYLEA (aflibercept) Injection for the treatment of diabetic macular edema, EYLEA 2 milligrams (mg) dosed monthly and EYLEA 2 mg dosed every two months (after 5 initial monthly injections) achieved the primary endpoint of a significantly greater improvement in best-corrected visual acuity from baseline compared to laser photocoagulation at 52 weeks.

6 Aug 2013

NIH-funded study of aquaporin proteins could hold clues to cataract

Researchers have achieved dynamic, atomic-scale views of a protein needed to maintain the transparency of the lens in the human eye. The work, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, could lead to new insights and drugs for treating cataract and a variety of other health conditions.

6 Aug 2013

Researchers find a crucial on-off switch in visual development

A discovery by a University of Maryland-led research team offers hope for treating "lazy eye" and other serious visual problems that are usually permanent unless they are corrected in early childhood.

2 Aug 2013

Vanderbilt offers first FDA-approved bionic eye for treatment of retinitis pigmentosa

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been chosen as one of 12 sites in the United States to offer the first FDA-approved bionic eye for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

30 Jul 2013

Excessive exposure to ultraviolet light can damage the eyes, says ophthalmologist

When it comes to damaging sun rays, skin protection is a top priority for many. But there is another area that needs to be brought into focus - the eyes.

23 Jul 2013

University of Florida receives RPB Sanders Construction grant

Research to Prevent Blindness has awarded a prestigious, one-time laboratory grant of $600,000 to the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Florida, College of Medicine. The newly created laboratory will be permanently named the RPB Mildred Krahmer Sanders and William Clifford Sanders Laboratory for Vision Research.

20 Jul 2013

Investigators report complete catalog of genes expressed in retina

Investigators at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School have published the most thorough description of gene expression in the human retina reported to date. In a study published today in the journal BMC Genomics, Drs. Michael Farkas, Eric Pierce and colleagues in the Ocular Genomics Institute at Mass. Eye and Ear reported a complete catalog of the genes expressed in the retina.

20 Jul 2013

UH Eye Institute to use Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System to treat patients with RP

University Hospitals Eye Institute will be one of the first medical centers in the United States to offer the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System.

28 Jun 2013

Advanced optical measures may help predict change in visual acuity, study says

Sophisticated new optical quality metrics can identify older adults likely to have more rapid age-related declines in vision, suggests a study, "Factors Accounting for the 4-Year Change in Acuity in Patients Between 50 and 80 Years", in the July issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.

25 Jun 2013

Eylea can ease vision problems for wet AMD patients

There is no cure for age-related macular degeneration, an eye disease that is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in older Americans. Last year, the National Institutes of Health reported that two drugs injected into the eyes, Avastin and Lucentis, eased symptoms for sufferers, especially those in the advanced, "wet" stage of the disease, when blood vessels in the eye become swollen and leak fluids in the eye.

19 Jun 2013

NICE Appraisal Committee reconfirms clinical effectiveness of ILUVIEN

Alimera Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in the research, development and commercialization of prescription ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, today announced that the Appraisal Committee of the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has issued a positive Appraisal Consultation Document on ILUVIEN for the treatment of pseudophakic patients with chronic diabetic macular edema considered insufficiently responsive to available therapies.

14 Jun 2013

Rats born with low birth weights are more likely to develop age-related vision loss, say researchers

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta recently published their findings that rats with restricted growth in the womb, causing low birth weights when born, were most susceptible to developing age-related vision loss, compared to their normal weight counterparts.

13 Jun 2013

Viewpoints: 'Reasonable' debate about health law's 'rate shock; 'absurdity' of Sebelius' account of fund raising; Obama killed the grand bargain

Many of us have been wondering whether it's possible to have an honest, reasonable debate about Obamacare. To my pleasant surprise, one may finally be starting.

7 Jun 2013

EMA grants Sucampo orphan drug designation for unoprostone isopropyl to treat retinitis pigmentosa

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has received orphan drug designation in the European Union for unoprostone isopropyl for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). RP is a genetic disease characterized by progressive, irreversible vision loss and decreasing visual acuity, and there are no drugs or therapeutic procedures currently approved for the treatment of RP today.

29 May 2013