Author: Healio ophthalmology

Paragon BioTeck receives affirmation of R-phenylephrine hydrochloride formulation in patent case

Paragon BioTeck announced the United States Patent and Trademark Office affirmed claims made by the company in the patent for its R-phenylephrine hydrochloride formulation, which is used to attain dilation of the pupil for ocular examinations. The ruling was handed down by the office after Altaire Pharmaceuticals sought in 2015 to invalidate Paragon’s patent that claims a method of maintaining purity of the formulation. The ruling affirmed that the petition by Altaire was without merit. This is only the fourth written decision by the Patent Trial and Appeals Board, according (Read more...)

Congressman Tom Price, MD, nominated as HHS secretary

President-elect Donald J. Trump announced Congressman Tom Price, MD, (R-Ga.) has been chosen as secretary of the HHS.“It is an honor to be nominated to serve our nation as secretary of Health and Human Services,” Price said in a press release. “Thanks to President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence for their confidence. I am humbled by the incredible challenges that lay ahead and enthusiastic for the opportunity to be a part of solving them on behalf of the American people. There is much work to be done to (Read more...)

Adherence to a Mediterranean diet may lower odds of neovascular AMD

A diet high in fish or omega-3 fatty acids can be protective against age-related macular degeneration, so those who adhered to a Mediterranean diet had lower odds of developing the disease, according to study. Researchers included 5,060 randomly sampled people ages 65 years and older from seven study centers in Europe — United Kingdom, Estonia, Norway, France, Italy, Greece and Spain — in a cross-sectional, population-based epidemiologic study. All participants underwent an eye examination and digital retinal photography, and their dietary intake in the previous year was assessed using a (Read more...)

CMS releases tool to facilitate Quality Payment Program

The CMS recently launched an online tool to aid in sharing electronic data for the Medicare Quality Payment Program to reduce clinician burden, while improving overall quality of care, according to a press release.This new launch, known as an Application Program Interface (API), builds upon the CMS’s Quality Payment Program website that was released in October. It will facilitate the retrieval and maintenance of the program’s measures for organizations, as well as enable organizations to create applications for physicians and their practices. The Explores Measures tool was developed by the (Read more...)

Researchers say simultaneous infection of Zika, chikungunya possible

New research presented at the 2016 America Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting found mosquitoes can carry more than one flavivirus at a time, enabling them to potentially infect humans with Zika and chikungunya viruses in a single bite.“There was a large-scale study recently in Nicaragua where they found that over 20% of the patients that have one arbovirus actually were coinfected with another one, so we figured there must be a reasonable number of mosquitos that actually are exposed to two viruses at the same time,” Claudia (Read more...)

Nine strategies to reverse physician burnout

Building upon a decade of research on the rise and cost of physician burnout, researchers at the Mayo Clinic proposed nine strategies that health care organizations can implement to reverse the trend, limit the risk and promote physician well-being, according to a recent news release.“Research has shown that more than half of U.S. physicians are experiencing symptoms of burnout, and the rate is increasing,” Tait Shanafelt, MD, director of Mayo Clinic’s Program on Physician Well-being, said in the release. “Unfortunately, many organizations see burnout as a personal problem to be (Read more...)

PUBLICATION EXCLUSIVE: How to adjust IOL power in unusual cataract cases

With newly developed methods of IOL power calculation, we are approaching 90% or higher accuracy of being within 0.5 D of the intended refractive target. The Barrett Universal formula uses improved algorithms, the Hill-RBF method relies on artificial intelligence with large data sets, and the Ladas Super Formula incorporates both novel methods as well as crowd-sourced big data to continuously hone its results. But even with these techniques of calculation, there is still a need to adjust the IOL power in unusual cataract cases.The A-constant of the IOL reflects many (Read more...)

FDA clears Xen for refractory glaucoma

The FDA has cleared Allergan’s Xen glaucoma treatment system for refractory glaucoma, according to a company press release.The Xen system consists of the Xen45 gel stent and the Xen injector. The stent is implanted through an ab interno approach and creates a new drainage channel to reduce IOP.