I have found fifteen gene therapy clinical trials underway to treat various eye disorders. In thinking about this, I wondered how many patients had been treated to date in these clinical trials. Not able to find this information, I decided to undertake the task of obtaining the information by asking the people running the trials.

This resulted in this new table, Table 3 Gene Therapy in Ophthalmologly - Ongoing Clinical Trial Details.

I have visited each National Clinical Trial (NCT) site, derived the pertinent information, and placed it into the table.

I then requested the number of patients treated (Read more...)

As announced this morning, Advanced Cell Technology said that Mass Eye & Ear Infirmary had received IRB approval to become the fourth clinical site for ACT’s embryonic stem cell trials in treating the dry form of age-related macular degeneration.

Harvard’s Mass Eye & Ear joins UCLA’s/Jules Stein, Wills Eye Institute, and Bascom Palmer in the ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial using subretinal injections of embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells.

In addition, it is my understanding that Moorfields Eye Hospital in London is awaiting final approval of an IND application to also participate in ACT’s clinical trial for dry (Read more...)

For those of you who have been following my writings on Avastin vs. Lucentis and on the CATT Study, the two-year results comparing Avastin to Lucentis have just been published in Ophthalmology (1) and no significant differences between either the two drugs or dosing patterns (once monthly or as needed) has been found.

As illustrated in the graphic below, the results for monthly treatments were slightly better than when injected as needed but, as the study’s authors noted, "Both drugs were highly effective regardless of the approach to dosing. There was slightly less vision gain with as-needed treatment. Patients seeking (Read more...)

For over ten years, from the Fall of 1995 until December 2005, I wrote and published the monthly Executive Laser Briefing (ELB) newsletter (Figure 1). It was then sold to Trends-in-Medicine and continues to be published as Executive Laser Report (Figure 2).

For over ten years, from the Fall of 1995 until December 2005, I wrote and published the monthly Executive Laser Briefing (ELB) newsletter (Figure 1). It was then sold to Trends-in-Medicine and continues to be published as Executive Laser Report (Figure 2).

Each issue of ELB contained news releases, analyst reports, and commentary about the various companies and laser technologies making news during that time frame. Each months issue consisted of about 40-50 (Read more...)

In an announcement today, Advanced Cell Technology said that Bascom Palmer Eye Institute had received IRB approval to become the third U.S. clinical site for testing ACT’s human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells in the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration. Bascom Palmer, one of the country’s premier eye institutes, joins UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute and the Wills Eye Institute as the third U.S. site participating in the clinical trials.

The Bascom Palmer trial will be led by acclaimed retinal specialist Dr. Philip Rosenfeld, the father of the use of Avastin in the treatment of the wet (Read more...)

On January 30, 2012, Stem Cells Inc. announced the publication of preclinical data demonstrating that its proprietary HuCNS-SCr cells (purified human neural stem cells) protect host photoreceptors and preserve vision in an animal model of retinal disease. The preclinical results are highly relevant to human disorders of vision loss, the most notable of which is dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The study is available online at and will be featured as the cover article in the February issue of the international peer-reviewed European Journal of Neuroscience.

This research was conducted in collaboration with a team of researchers led by (Read more...)