I have been following the progress of Avedro since I first learned about the formation of the company back in May 2009. Now the company has announced completion of the one-year follow up visits of patients enrolled in its two…
Category: Blogs
Alimera Sciences Says Iluvien Effective at 3 Years
Iluvien, a sustained release drug-delivery system for the treatment of diabetic macular edema, may be getting closer to possible FDA approval. The parent company, Alimera Sciences has resubmitted additional safety and efficacy data as requested by the FDA last year. …
Stem Cells in Ophthalmology Update 7: Research Studies with Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Suggest Opposite Results
Two research studies were published this week, about the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in treating retinal problems, but with opposing results. In one study, published in Nature, Dr.Yang Xu and his colleagues at the University of California,…
Iluvien Update 3: Alimera Files Resubmission for Approval of Iluvien
Following up the good news released at the recent ARVO Meeting (Iluvien Update 2: New Safety and Efficacy Data Presented at ARVO), Alimera Sciences Inc. filed a resubmission of its New Drug Application (NDA) for the use of Iluvien in treating diabetic …
Avastin and Lucentis Are Equally Safe, Too.
CATT trial revealed that it appears Avastin is as effective as Lucentis for the treatment of wet ARMD. They are equally safe, too.
Ellex 2RT Updated Clinical Results: ARVO 2011
Last June, I reported on the six-month results of Professor Robyn Guymer’s pilot study of using nanosecond laser pulses to prevent vision loss from patients afflicted with early stages of dry AMD, the Ellex 2RT for Early AMD Study. The results were p…
Iluvien Update 2: New Safety and Efficacy Data Presented at ARVO
In July 2010, I wrote a comprehensive report about Iluvien and its potential in the treatment of diabetic macula edema (DME) (Iluvien and the Future of Ophthalmic Drug Delivery Systems). It was anticipated at that time that the company would obtain mar…
Avastin Just as Good as Lucentis
It’s official. Avastin is just as good as Lucentis for the treatment of wet macular degeneration. The results of this National Eye Institute study were released just a week ago. The study, Comparison of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatment Trials (CATT)…
CATT Update 15: Preliminary Two-Year Safety Data Presented at ARVO
Two of the authors of the CATT Study, that was published in the NEJM last Thursday, Drs. Dan Martin and Maureen McGovern, presented additional information about the study at the opening day ARVO Meeting, to about 2000 eager attendees. As…
CATT Study Update 14: One-Year Study Results Show Equivalency Between Avastin and Lucentis
The Comparison of AMD Treatment Trials (CATT Study) one-year results were released today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). As anticipated, the two anti-VEGF drugs, Avastin and Lucentis, both produced by Genentech, showed equivalent results…
CATT Study Update 13: A First Peek
As reported by Andrew Pollack of the NYTimes, in a column published earlier today, the first results of the 1200 patient CATT Study (Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials), whose first-year results are scheduled for release at ARVO on Sunday afternoon, i…
Laser and anti-VEGF Best Treats Diabetic Macular Edema
A new study finds the combination of laser treatment with intraocular injections of anti-VEGF to be the best treatment for diabetic retinopathy.
VEGF-Trap Gets Closer to FDA Approval
VEGF-Trap (aka aflibercept), another anti-VEGF drug, moves closer to FDA approval as it received priority review status. This status means that the FDA process will be accelerated and the drug can be reviewed in 6 months versus the usual 10…
Avastin/Lucentis Update 46: Avastin — The Rest of the Story
I decided to begin this online Journal for two reasons, the first was to put some of my published columns and reports online and make them available to ophthalmic researchers and historians, and the second was because I became interested in the potenti…
AMD Update 14: Neurotech Pharmaceuticals NT-501 Implant Shown to Slow Vision Loss in Patients with Geographical Atrophy Associated with Dry AMD
Back in December 2009, I reproduced Dr. Philip Rosenfeld’s excellent article that presented an overview of the drugs in development to treat dry AMD. At the time, and still today, there was no drug or treatment approved for the treatment of the dry s…
A Golden Retriever Named Trevor and Retinitis Pigmentosa
TrevorAlmost every day, I check on who is looking at my online Journal, where the referrals came from, and what articles are being read most frequently. (I can do this because I use Sitemeter as a visitor counter and for viewer statistics.)Recent…
The Development of Femtosecond Lasers for Cataract Surgery
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…
Eating Fish and Omega-3′s Lower ARMD Risk in Women
A new study indicates that eating one serving of fish per week may prevent macular degeneration in women!
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…
Lucentis Approved in Europe to Treat Patients With Macular Edema Secondary to Retinal Vein Occlusion
Novartis announced Friday that it had received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for Lucentis® (ranibizumab) to treat patients in the European Union with visual impairment due to macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO). Lucentis was shown to improve vision and vision related quality of life […]