Eye Health News and Research

Latest Eye Health News and Research

FDA accepts Regeneron's VEGF Trap-Eye BLA for review

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review the Company's Biologics License Application for VEGF Trap-Eye for the treatment of the neovascular form of age-related macular degeneration.

18 Apr 2011

Eye physicians need to include low-cost molecular medicine in their tool box

Dr. Richer, speaking at his 4th annual Nutrition & The Eye conference, April 16-17, hosted by the College of Optometry at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, says molecular medicine is beginning to provide hope for patients with declining sight when all other therapies have been exhausted.

18 Apr 2011

Researchers seek scientific evaluation for visual perception of adults with cleft lip, palate

The impact of physical attractiveness on social communication is a truth universally acknowledged. It is not surprising, therefore, that individuals with a cleft lip and palate have experienced social isolation and poor self-esteem.

16 Apr 2011

Study uses simulation model to assess cost-effective eye screenings for Americans with diabetes

Eye examinations every other year are more cost-effective than currently recommended annual eye exams for people with diabetes who are at low risk of diabetic retinopathy progression.

16 Apr 2011

Mandatory single embryo transfers for IVF may decrease risk and cost

The number of couples struggling with infertility is on the rise, and these couples often use assisted reproductive technologies, like in vitro fertilization (IVF), to get pregnant. Although IVF can be successful, it can also increase the risk of multiple pregnancies, which are often caused by transferring more than one embryo. Twins and triplets are likely to be born prematurely, and, as a result, many have medical complications.

15 Apr 2011

Genzyme reports positive data from 5-year alemtuzumab Phase 2 study in MS

Genzyme Corp., a subsidiary of sanofi-aventis Group, today reported additional five-year patient data from its completed Phase 2 multiple sclerosis (MS) trial showing that nearly two-thirds of alemtuzumab treated patients remained free of clinically-active disease as much as four years after most patients received their last course of the investigational drug.

15 Apr 2011

Researchers create artificial cornea using pig and human stem cells

Researchers extracted pig corneal cells and replaced them with human stem cells. Thus, the University of Granada takes the lead in the making of bioartificial organs, a field so far led by the Hospital Gregorio Marañón in Madrid.

15 Apr 2011

African genital herpes strains are more infectious than the U.S. virus

Strains of genital herpes in Africa are far more virulent than those in the United States, researchers at Harvard Medical School report, a striking insight into a common disease with important implications for preventing HIV transmission in a region staggered by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

15 Apr 2011

Researchers develop sensor film to estimate packaged food quality

When it comes to packaged fish or meat, it is nearly impossible to distinguish between fresh goods and their inedible counterparts. Researchers have now developed a sensor film that can be integrated into the package itself, where it takes over the role of quality control. And if the food has spoiled, it changes color to announce the fact.

15 Apr 2011

Ortho-McNeil Neurologics announces voluntary recall of TOPAMAX 100mg Tablets

Ortho-McNeil Neurologics Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced it is voluntarily recalling two lots of TOPAMAX® (topiramate) 100mg Tablets. These two lots were shipped between 10/19/2010 and 12/28/2010 and distributed in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

15 Apr 2011

Opinions: Traditional aid groups' roles; 'smart power' foreign policy; funding for MDGs

In a post on the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog," Joel Charny, vice president for humanitarian policy and practice at InterAction, highlights the role traditional aid groups play in disasters around the world, refuting the idea that the 2010 earthquake in Haiti showed that established groups "were becoming irrelevant in the face of a vast array of new aid providers, including corporations, celebrities, citizens groups and the military."

15 Apr 2011

Pig stem cell transplants key to future research into retina treatment

A team of American and Chinese scientists studying the role of stem cells in repairing damaged retina tissue have found that pigs represent an effective proxy species to research treatments for humans. The study, published in STEM CELLS, demonstrates how cells can be isolated and transplanted between pigs, overcoming a key barrier to the research.

13 Apr 2011

Older women with high vitamin D status less likely to have early AMD

Women under the age of 75 with high vitamin D status were less likely to have early age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in adults, a University at Buffalo study has shown. The disease affects approximately 9 percent of Americans aged 40 and older.

12 Apr 2011

Study: Patients with glaucoma experience psychological problems

Fear of the unknown is one of the greatest issues facing patients with glaucoma - the second leading cause of blindness worldwide after cataracts - according to research in the April issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. People also worry about how the eye disease, which can be hereditary, will affect other members of their family.

11 Apr 2011

Planned Parenthood funding a major stumbling block in budget negotiations

On the brink of a painful government shutdown, the Obama administration readied furlough notices for hundreds of thousands of workers Friday as Republican and Democratic leaders accused each other of refusing to give ground on a deal to keep operations running. ... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused the Republicans of blocking a compromise because they were determined to make it harder 'for women to get cancer screenings' -- a Planned Parenthood funding reference.

11 Apr 2011

Two new studies on Veterans Affairs health care system

As recently as the 1990s, the Veterans Affairs health care system had a subpar reputation for quality, but two new studies of standard quality metrics, both led by Amal Trivedi, assistant professor of community health at Brown University and a physician at the Providence VA Medical Center, show that the system that cares for more than 5 million patients has improved markedly in the last decade.

8 Apr 2011

People with red eyes are considered sad, unhealthy and less attractive

Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, but a new study reveals that the reverse is also true; unattractiveness is in the eye of the beheld. Research published in Ethology finds that people with bloodshot eyes are considered sadder, unhealthier and less attractive than people whose eye whites are untinted, a cue which is uniquely human.

8 Apr 2011

IBM discovers biodegradable nanoparticles that seek out and destroy drug-resistant bacteria

IBM's announcement of the first biodegradable nanoparticles that can seek out and destroy drug-resistant bacteria caps off a century of healthcare and life sciences innovation from IBM.

8 Apr 2011

Long-term delivery of CNTF slows loss of visual acuity caused by geographic atrophy

A phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of a severe form of age-related macular degeneration called geographic atrophy (GA) has become the first study to show the benefit of a therapy to slow the progression of vision loss for this disease. The results highlight the benefit of the use of a neurotrophic factor to treat GA and provide hope to nearly one million Americans suffering from GA.

8 Apr 2011

Bayer, Regeneron initiate two VEGF Trap-Eye Phase 3 trials in Diabetic Macular Edema

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Bayer HealthCare announced that they have initiated the first of two Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of VEGF Trap-Eye, an investigational new agent for the treatment of certain eye diseases, in the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema.

8 Apr 2011