Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

American Academy of Ophthalmology does not recommend marijuana for glaucoma treatment

The American Academy of Ophthalmology – the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons – is reminding the public that it does not recommend marijuana or other cannabis products for the treatment of glaucoma.

28 Jun 2014

Autism Speaks awards more than $600,000 to scientists pursuing training in translational research

Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, today announced it has awarded more than $600,000 in funding for six promising scientists pursuing academic training in translational research.

28 Jun 2014

Study validates telemedicine approach to ROP screening

Trained non-physician evaluators who studied retinal images transmitted to computer screens at a remote central reading center successfully identified newborn infants likely to require a specialized medical evaluation for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a leading cause of treatable blindness.

28 Jun 2014

Study links nearsightedness to higher education and years spent in school

German researchers have found strong evidence that attaining a higher level of education and spending more years in school are two factors associated with a greater prevalence and severity of nearsightedness, or myopia.

28 Jun 2014

FDA clears ReWalk wearable robotic exoskeleton for home usage

Exoskeleton leader ReWalk Robotics announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company's ReWalk Personal System for use at home and in the community. ReWalk is a wearable robotic exoskeleton that provides powered hip and knee motion to enable individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) to stand upright and walk.

27 Jun 2014

University of Utah researcher to receive Nelson Trust Award for Retinitis Pigmentosa

Research to Prevent Blindness, a New York-based foundation, has announced that University of Utah researcher Wolfgang Baehr, Ph.D., will receive the Nelson Trust Award for Retinitis Pigmentosa-and an accompanying $100,000 to pursue new scientific leads to understand contributors to blindness.

27 Jun 2014

State roundup: Troubles in Kentucky; MD. hospital under review

The team at The Upshot, a Times news and data-analysis venture, compiled six basic metrics to give a picture of the quality and longevity of life in each county of the nation: educational attainment, household income, jobless rate, disability rate, life expectancy and obesity rate.

27 Jun 2014

Telemedicine is effective strategy to screen for potentially blinding disease in infants

Telemedicine is an effective strategy to screen for the potentially blinding disease known as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), according to a study funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI).

27 Jun 2014

Neuroscientists can control muscle movement by applying optogenetics

For the first time, MIT neuroscientists have shown they can control muscle movement by applying optogenetics - a technique that allows scientists to control neurons' electrical impulses with light - to the spinal cords of animals that are awake and alert.

27 Jun 2014

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals plans to merge with QLT

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a fully integrated specialty biopharmaceutical company, and QLT Inc., a Canadian-based biotechnology company focused on developing innovative orphan ophthalmology products, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Auxilium plans to merge with QLT.

26 Jun 2014

Aerie Pharmaceuticals' Roclatan meets all clinical endpoints in Phase 2b trial

Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class glaucoma therapies, today reported the successful results of its Phase 2b trial for once-daily, quadruple-action RoclatanTM, a combination of Aerie's triple-action RhopressaTM with latanoprost, a prostaglandin analogue (PGA).

25 Jun 2014

Study explores how visual skills of cricket players change with age

Scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London, will investigate how cricket players' ability to play shots changes over the course of a lifetime in a new study into eye movements and skill learning.

25 Jun 2014

New approaches needed to improve visual accessibility for people with low vision-challenges

New approaches and tools are needed to improve visual accessibility for people with low vision in the "real world," according to a special article in the July issue of , official journal of the the American Academy of Optometry.

25 Jun 2014

Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Roche partner to make personalised infertility treatment possible

Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Roche have announced a collaboration to combine diagnostic testing technology from Roche with Ferring's human cell line derived recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (human rFSH), a gonadotrophin currently in phase III development.

24 Jun 2014

Italian Medicines Agency grants marketing authorization to ILUVIEN for chronic DME treatment

pSivida Corp., a leader in the development of sustained release, drug delivery products for treating eye diseases, today announced that the Italian Medicines Agency (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco) has granted marketing authorization to ILUVIEN for the treatment of vision impairment associated with chronic diabetic macular edema (DME) considered insufficiently responsive to available therapies.

23 Jun 2014

Chinese FDA accepts Lee's IND for Phase 2 dry eye study

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. and Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. today jointly announced that the Chinese FDA has accepted a Phase II IND for RGN-259 (thymosin beta 4-based, preservative-free eye drops) to be tested in patients with moderate to severe dry eye syndrome in China.

23 Jun 2014

Alternative disposal process in optic nerve cells has implications for neurodegenerative diseases

Biologists have long considered cells to function like self-cleaning ovens, chewing up and recycling their own worn out parts as needed.

20 Jun 2014

Keratoprosthesis restores vision in patients blinded by corneal disease

A new review article in the June issue of Focal Points, a monthly publication of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, calls keratoprosthesis a viable alternative to standard corneal transplantation to help people suffering from corneal blindness.

20 Jun 2014

Researchers explore genetic and cellular mechanisms of retinal development

The circuitry of the central nervous system is immensely complex and, as a result, sometimes confounding. When scientists conduct research to unravel the inner workings at a cellular level, they are sometimes surprised by what they find.

20 Jun 2014

Congress' desire for quick VA fix complicated by costs

Even as Senate and House negotiators are getting ready to try to forge a compromise on their bills, some members are raising concerns about the price tag that would come with an effort to let veterans who can't get timely appointments at the VA go to private doctors or hospitals.

20 Jun 2014