Several years ago, in October 2008, I came across a writeup in Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today (CRST), about Technolas Perfect Vision announcing that the newly formed company would be using femtosecond laser technology to investigate laser-base…
Author: Irv Arons
Menu 18: Updates for October 2010 – March 2011
I have been negligent in updating the menus for my online Journal. So, here is the update for the past six months. This update contains a number of new writeups, including the first use of gene therapy in treating retinitis…
Stem Cells in Ophthalmology Update 6: Stemedica Paper Accepted for Presentation at ARVO
I recently received an update from my contact at Stemedica and would like to share the information with you. A safety study on the use of stem cells in the eye, in a clinical study underway at the Fyodorov Federal Institution of Eye Microsurgery …
A Comparison of Commercially Available Femtosecond Lasers in Refractive Surgery
[…] Earlier this month, I came across an article written by Drs. Ronald Krueger and Glauco Reggiani-Mello, that does an excellent job of summarizing the latest developments in the use of femtosecond lasers in refractive surgery and other applications in…
Stem Cells in Ophthalmology Update 5: Gene Defects Common in Induced Stem Cells
As the senior editor, John Gever, of MedPage Today reported, following the publication of three studies about induced pluripotent stem cells in the March 3rd, issue of Nature, “The road to regenerative medicine based on induced pluripotent stem cells…
Avastin/Lucentis Update 45: Avastin Drug Treatment of ROP Better than Laser
A new study, published earlier this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, describes the use of intravitreal Avastin to treat Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in premature infants. This study was widely covered by the press, but I would…
An Interview with Professor John Marshall
During the APAO (Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology) Meeting held in Beijing in September, 2010, Lei Zang, the Managing Editor of Ophthalmology World Report, interviewed Professor John Marshall of St. Thomas Hospital in London and the principa…
An Interview with Dr Ronald Krueger
With the permission of Lei Zang, the Managing Editor of Ophthalmology World Report, here is her interview with noted refractive surgeon Dr. Ronald Krueger of the Cleveland Clinic. As noted below, Dr. Krueger was recently in China to perform a corneal t…
NeoVista Epi-Retinal Strontium 90 Treatment for AMD: Update 4
NeoVista just released an update, discussing the first commercial utilization of its Epimacular Brachytherapy device in Germany. The Epi-Rad device, now renamed as the VIDION ANV (Anti Neo Vascular Therapy System) has been commercialized in Europe since November 2009. The…
CATT Study Update 12: Status of WorldWide Studies
With the anticipated arrival of the one-year results of the CATT Study this Spring, I thought it would be appropriate to update where the other worldwide studies stand.During the Retina Subspecialty Day sessions, held prior to the recent 2010 AAO Meeti…
Iluvien Update: FDA Marketing Approval Delayed
Last July, I wrote a comprehensive report about Iluvien and the status and promise of other sustained release drug delivery systems (Iluvien and the Future of Ophthalmic Drug Delivery Systems). At that time, Alimera Sciences, the company developing Ilu…
Stem Cells in Ophthalmology Update 4: ACT Receives FDA Approval to Use hESCs to Treat Dry AMD
Advanced Cell Technology Inc., announced today that it had received approval from the FDA to commence its clinical trial using retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to treat the dry form of age-rel…
The Second Ophthalmic Innovation Summit
Last October, the Second Ophthalmic Innovation Summit (OIS) was held just prior to the 2010 AAO Meeting in Chicago. As was the case last year, my old friend, Larry Haimovitch,an ophthalmic industry vetran, who attended the meeting and wrote about it fo…
Avastin/Lucentis Update 44: United Kingdom Closer to Allowing Avastin for AMD
While the U.S. comes closer to showing the equivalency of Avastin to Lucentis for treating the wet form of age-related macular degeneration, when the CATT Study (Comparisons of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials) results become public, …
Stem Cells in Ophthalmology Update 3: ACT Files IND to Treat Dry AMD
Furthering its lead in stem cell research in ophthalmology, Advanced Cell Technology Inc., announced today that it had filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to initiate a Phase I/II multicenter study for…
Stargardt Disease To Be Treated With Embryonic Stem Cells in Trial Initiated by Advanced Cell Technology
Earlier this week, Advanced Cell Technology’s request to begin treating patients with Stargardt disease (also known as fundus flavimaculatus) with embryonic stem cells in a clinical trial was approved by the FDA. This will be the second trial using human…
Stem Cells in Ophthalmology Update 2: ACT Gets Go-ahead to Treat Stargardt’s
As I noted in my September report on the Use of Stem Cells in Ophthalmology, it was anticipated that either the program at The London Project to Cure Blindness or Advanced Cell Technology’s program to treat Stargardt’s disease would be…
The Use of Gene Therapy in Treating Retinitis Pigmentosa and Dry AMD
A short while ago, I received a message from someone I did not know, who said that he enjoyed the writeups on my online Journal and was wondering if I might be interested in writing about the use of gene therapy as an approach to vision restoration. Si…
Avastin/Lucentis Update 43: Secret Rebates Offered for Lucentis
First, Genentech refused to provide Lucentis for the CATT Study, being run by NEI/NIH to compare Avastin to Lucentis for AMD (Avastin/Lucentis Update 12); then they threatened to stop supplying Avastin to compounding pharmacies so that ophthalmologists…
AMD Update 13: Retinal Procedures on the Rise
A new study, just published in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology and reported by Ophthalmology Web, MedPage Today, and Medscape Medical News, shows that among those in the Medicare population (age 65 plus), treatments for retinal con…