Thirteen-million Americans have AMD, age related macular degeneration, the leading cause of irreversible blindness and vision impairment in people over 50. Now, researchers started studying a new kind of therapy for AMD.
It can't reverse the damage, and it's helping patients get the most out of the vision they have left.
Macular degeneration made Russell Delong's world go black.
"To start with, I was totally blind. I couldn't see nothin'," Delong said.
Delong had surgery, but his vision was still blurry.
"Everything looked like a real heavy fog, real heavy. I couldn't see that tractor at all, I could just tell there's something there," Delong said.
After years of treatment, Delong thought he was out of options. Until, a recent study found the brain reorganizes itself to compensate for vision loss. That's the key to a new therapy that teaches patients a whole new way of seeing.
A computer maps areas of the retina damaged by macular degeneration and those that are intact. Then it trains the patient to shift his vision, using the good retinal cells to see.
"So, it's really a series of biofeedback training to get the patient to move in that positive way that we feel is going to be the most sensitive and give him or her the best vision," said Susan Primo, OD, MPH, director at Vision and Optical Service at Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, Ga.
Now with special glasses, Delong can read a magazine. Back on the farm, he can see things that used to be a blur.
"If I look at it and it's black, I turn my head a little and I see around the scar tissue, there's a tractor. I can do everything out here, everything," Delong said.
At 74, Delong still has busy days ahead, and he wants to see every second.
Researchers are currently testing the computer therapy at Emory University. Smoking, obesity and race play a role in your risk of developing macular degeneration. Whites are much more likely to lose vision from the disease than other races.
Doctors at Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, Ga., are working on a unique form of treatment for AMD that takes advantage of the brain's ability to reorganize itself to make up for vision loss. The therapy involves training AMD patients to focus on using the good cells that remain.
"We are encouraging them or influencing them to be able to use those parts of the retina to be able to better utilize the residual vision," Primo said.
In the treatment, doctors first use a computer to map out the areas of the eye that are damaged. The machine then locates the areas that are still sensitive based on factors like thickness of the retina.
The computer then uses biofeedback - in this case a series of beeps that gets faster and louder as the patient moves closer to using the healthiest portion of the eye - to train the patient to move their eye into the position that gives them the best possible vision.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
New Therapy Helping AMD Patients
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Content courtesy of Ivanhoe. For more information, click here.
Thirteen-million Americans have AMD -- age related macular degeneration, the leading cause of irreversible blindness and vision impairment in people over 50. Now, researchers are studying a new kind of therapy for the condition. It can’t reverse the damage, but it’s helping patients get the most out of the vision they have left.
For Russell DeLong, this would have been impossible four years ago. Macular degeneration made his world go black.
“To start with, I was totally blind," DeLong told Ivanhoe. "I couldn’t see nothin'.”
He had surgery but his world remained a blur.
“Everything looked like a real heavy fog, real heavy," DeLong said. "I couldn’t see that tractor at all. I could just tell there’s something there."
After years of treatment, he thought he was out of options. A recent study found the brain reorganizes itself to compensate for vision loss. That’s the key to a new therapy that teaches patients a whole new way of seeing.
A computer maps areas of the retina damaged by macular degeneration and those that are intact. Then it trains the patient to shift his vision, using the good retinal cells to see.
“It’s really a series of biofeedback training to get the patient to move in that positive way that we feel is going to be the most sensitive and give him or her the best possible vision," Susan Primo, O.D., Director of Vision and Optical Services at Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, Ga., told Ivanhoe.
Now with special glasses, DeLong can read a magazine. Back on the farm, he can see things that used to be a blur.
“If I look at it and it’s black, I turn my head a little and I see around the scar tissue that there’s a tractor," he said. "I can do everything out here. Everything.”
At 74, DeLong still has busy days ahead … and wants to see every second.
"I’m gonna keep going," he said.
Researchers are currently testing the computer therapy at Emory University. Smoking, obesity and race play a role in your risk of developing macular degeneration. Whites are much more likely to lose vision from the disease than other races.
for more information contact www.maculardegenertionassociation.org
Content courtesy of Ivanhoe. For more information, click here.
Thirteen-million Americans have AMD -- age related macular degeneration, the leading cause of irreversible blindness and vision impairment in people over 50. Now, researchers are studying a new kind of therapy for the condition. It can’t reverse the damage, but it’s helping patients get the most out of the vision they have left.
For Russell DeLong, this would have been impossible four years ago. Macular degeneration made his world go black.
“To start with, I was totally blind," DeLong told Ivanhoe. "I couldn’t see nothin'.”
He had surgery but his world remained a blur.
“Everything looked like a real heavy fog, real heavy," DeLong said. "I couldn’t see that tractor at all. I could just tell there’s something there."
After years of treatment, he thought he was out of options. A recent study found the brain reorganizes itself to compensate for vision loss. That’s the key to a new therapy that teaches patients a whole new way of seeing.
A computer maps areas of the retina damaged by macular degeneration and those that are intact. Then it trains the patient to shift his vision, using the good retinal cells to see.
“It’s really a series of biofeedback training to get the patient to move in that positive way that we feel is going to be the most sensitive and give him or her the best possible vision," Susan Primo, O.D., Director of Vision and Optical Services at Emory Eye Center in Atlanta, Ga., told Ivanhoe.
Now with special glasses, DeLong can read a magazine. Back on the farm, he can see things that used to be a blur.
“If I look at it and it’s black, I turn my head a little and I see around the scar tissue that there’s a tractor," he said. "I can do everything out here. Everything.”
At 74, DeLong still has busy days ahead … and wants to see every second.
"I’m gonna keep going," he said.
Researchers are currently testing the computer therapy at Emory University. Smoking, obesity and race play a role in your risk of developing macular degeneration. Whites are much more likely to lose vision from the disease than other races.
for more information contact www.maculardegenertionassociation.org
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Tips To Improve Your Vision – Get Rid Of Your Glasses!
Eyesight improvement is achievable. You can learn to see without glasses and be relieved permanently of the pain and distress so frequently associated with defective sight. But you cannot Improve your vision by magic.
CENTRAL FIXATION
The retina is a sensitive film on which the picture falls. But there is one point on the retina where the vision is perfect; that is the Macula Lutae, a point only one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter in the very center of the retina. When we focus at this point we have what is known as central fixation and our vision is perfect.
If you have lost the capacity of central fixation you are seeing with Eccentric fixation which often causes headaches, fatigue, pain or discomfort of some kind, such as twitching of the eyelids or the eyeballs. This twitching, by the way, can be stopped by pressing the sides of the base of the nose as high as the inner canthus with the forefingers of both hands, avoiding any pressure on the eyeballs.
Continue the pressure for several minutes, with the eyes closed, and you will obtain relief.
One way of checking on whether you are seeing by central or eccentric fixation is to look at a word on this page. Do you see it most sharply where you are looking or do you see it better when you look a little away from it? When you look at the top of a printed letter do you see the bottom of the letter more clearly than the top? If so, you have lost central fixation.
If you are to see, you must bring your mind to bear on what you see. Because the eye can focus sharply and is at its maximum power only on a very small area at a time, an attempt to see a larger area results in a blurring of physical vision and a lack of mental focus. Teach yourself to look at what you see, to watch one tiny area at a time. For when the central fixation is perfect, the eye sees perfectly.
THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE
For significant eye sight improvement, give the object you are looking at your mental as well as your visual attention. The more clearly it registers on your mind, the more clearly it will register on the eye.
Test this out for yourself. In the room where you are sitting there are probably a dozen objects which you no longer “see” because you are so accustomed to their presence that you are no longer aware of them. Look at each one in turn, not staring, but with quick, easy glances, thinking about what you are regarding. That doorknob-could you have described it before? Now you know its approximate size, contour, the material of which it is made, its relative position on the door, because your mind and not alone your eyes observed it.
Even such a familiar phenomenon as a moving picture gives us what we believe we see rather than what we actually see. A series of still pictures provides us with an illusion of movement.
SEE A SMALL AREA AT A TIME
Instead of staring, trying to take in a whole picture at one time and thus defeating the object of central fixation, look at one small part of the picture, shift your gaze to another small part, and another, blinking naturally all the time. The smaller the area, the more clearly you will see it.
People who have acquired bad seeing habits always try to increase their area of vision by staring, which defeats its own purpose. Staring not only causes muscular tension but a lowering of vision. You can test this for yourself by staring fixedly at an object or a word on this page. After a few moments of this effort the letters lose their sharp clarity and become blurred.
Eyesight improvement can be achieved with consistent time, effort and proper eye health care!
CENTRAL FIXATION
The retina is a sensitive film on which the picture falls. But there is one point on the retina where the vision is perfect; that is the Macula Lutae, a point only one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter in the very center of the retina. When we focus at this point we have what is known as central fixation and our vision is perfect.
If you have lost the capacity of central fixation you are seeing with Eccentric fixation which often causes headaches, fatigue, pain or discomfort of some kind, such as twitching of the eyelids or the eyeballs. This twitching, by the way, can be stopped by pressing the sides of the base of the nose as high as the inner canthus with the forefingers of both hands, avoiding any pressure on the eyeballs.
Continue the pressure for several minutes, with the eyes closed, and you will obtain relief.
One way of checking on whether you are seeing by central or eccentric fixation is to look at a word on this page. Do you see it most sharply where you are looking or do you see it better when you look a little away from it? When you look at the top of a printed letter do you see the bottom of the letter more clearly than the top? If so, you have lost central fixation.
If you are to see, you must bring your mind to bear on what you see. Because the eye can focus sharply and is at its maximum power only on a very small area at a time, an attempt to see a larger area results in a blurring of physical vision and a lack of mental focus. Teach yourself to look at what you see, to watch one tiny area at a time. For when the central fixation is perfect, the eye sees perfectly.
THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE
For significant eye sight improvement, give the object you are looking at your mental as well as your visual attention. The more clearly it registers on your mind, the more clearly it will register on the eye.
Test this out for yourself. In the room where you are sitting there are probably a dozen objects which you no longer “see” because you are so accustomed to their presence that you are no longer aware of them. Look at each one in turn, not staring, but with quick, easy glances, thinking about what you are regarding. That doorknob-could you have described it before? Now you know its approximate size, contour, the material of which it is made, its relative position on the door, because your mind and not alone your eyes observed it.
Even such a familiar phenomenon as a moving picture gives us what we believe we see rather than what we actually see. A series of still pictures provides us with an illusion of movement.
SEE A SMALL AREA AT A TIME
Instead of staring, trying to take in a whole picture at one time and thus defeating the object of central fixation, look at one small part of the picture, shift your gaze to another small part, and another, blinking naturally all the time. The smaller the area, the more clearly you will see it.
People who have acquired bad seeing habits always try to increase their area of vision by staring, which defeats its own purpose. Staring not only causes muscular tension but a lowering of vision. You can test this for yourself by staring fixedly at an object or a word on this page. After a few moments of this effort the letters lose their sharp clarity and become blurred.
Eyesight improvement can be achieved with consistent time, effort and proper eye health care!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Regular eye exams are ‘best check’for eye disease
By Sally Rummel
Chances are that sometime in your life, you will experience some of the symptoms of several common diseases of the eye. Thanks to huge advancements in technology, remarkable improvement can be experienced for most patients with cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration.
“So much more can be done today to treat eye disease,” said Doran Kasper, O.D., whose optometry practice has been located in Fenton for almost four decades.
Cataracts
A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s natural lens, which lies behind the iris and the pupil. The lens works much like a camera lens, focusing light onto the retina at the back of the eye. The lens also adjusts the eye’s focus, providing clear vision, both up close and far away.
*
The lens is mostly made of water and protein. The protein is arranged in a precise way that keeps the lens clear and lets light pass through it.
As people age, some of the protein may clump together and start to cloud a small area of the lens. This is a cataract, and over time, it may grow larger and cloud more of the lens, making it harder to see.
How do I know if I have cataracts?
A cataract starts out small, and at first has little effect on one’s vision. Vision may be slightly blurred, like looking through a cloudy piece of glass.
“Around the age of 50, the lens inside peoples’ eyes become cloudy enough that I can see it with my slit-lamp microscope which I use with my eye examination,” said Dr. Juan Alvarado from the Fenton Vision Center. “Eye doctors generally don’t diagnose ‘clinical’ cataracts until the cloudiness becomes vision impairing.”
A cataract may make light from the sun or a lamp seem too bright or glaring. Night drivers may notice that the oncoming headlights cause more glare than before. Colors may not appear as bright as they once did.
If you think you have a cataract, see an eye doctor for an exam to find out for sure.
When cataract surgery becomes the best option, doctors at the Michigan Eye Institute say that there are fewer than half a dozen vision practices in the state of Michigan that offer their level of experience in cataract surgery.
“We don’t use shots, needles or stitches during this 18-minute surgery,” said Dr. Bernard Tekiele. “Patients actually leave our center after surgery without an eye patch. They can expect a quick recovery with minimal limitations.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a category of eye disorders associated with a dangerous build-up of internal eye pressure, which can damage the eye’s optic nerve that transmits visual information to the brain.
If left untreated, patients will notice decreased peripheral vision and it can lead to blindness. In fact, glaucoma creates at least some vision loss in more than half of the approximately 2.5 million Americans who have the disease. It is the second leading cause of blindness.
Glaucoma typically causes no pain and no symptoms, often progressing without detection until the optic nerve has already been irreversibly damaged, with varying degrees of permanent vision loss.
There is no cure, but proper treatment can dramatically slow or temporarily halt its progress. Glaucoma can be treated with either medication or surgery — both aimed at lowering intraocular pressure (IOP), or pressure within the eye.
In the U.S., medications are usually the first line of glaucoma treatment. If this fails, then glaucoma surgery is the next treatment considered.
Macular Degeneration
Macular Degeneration (MD) is the most common cause of irreversible loss of central vision for senior citizens, according to the Fenton Vision Center.
The macula is located in the center of the retina — the micro-thin membrane that lines the back inside of the eye. The retina has millions of light-sensitive nerve cells that capture images focused on the retina, according to Alvarado. These captured images are transmitted to the brain by the optic nerve.
Any damage to the macula results in some loss of central vision.
There are two forms of MD:
The dry form affects about 90 percent of patients diagnosed with MD. It’s usually a gradual process that develops over the years and may affect only one eye. A person may notice more difficulty seeing with one eye than the other, a distortion of straight lines or small dark spots in the field of vision.
The wet form is less common, but has more devastating vision loss. It occurs when tiny blood vessels in the micro-thin layer of tissue beneath the retina begin to degenerate, causing tiny leaks. This can cause swelling and breaks or lesions in the retina, damaging the retina’s light-sensitive nerve cells.
“There is no cure for macular degeneration, but there are ways to help cure or delay its progression,” said doctors at the Michigan Eye Institute. Patients who have the disease or a relative with the disease are encouraged to eat a variety of green leafy vegetables, take a multi-vitamin containing lutein, and fish oil or flaxseed supplements for omega-3 fatty acids.
According to Fenton Vision Center, lasers have been used to treat the wet form of MD, but the best results come from finding the cause, and treat that to slow its progression. “We offer dialation to everyone regardless of age for all diseases,” said Alvarado. “A thorough annual eye exam is the best protection for your vision.”
Chances are that sometime in your life, you will experience some of the symptoms of several common diseases of the eye. Thanks to huge advancements in technology, remarkable improvement can be experienced for most patients with cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration.
“So much more can be done today to treat eye disease,” said Doran Kasper, O.D., whose optometry practice has been located in Fenton for almost four decades.
Cataracts
A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s natural lens, which lies behind the iris and the pupil. The lens works much like a camera lens, focusing light onto the retina at the back of the eye. The lens also adjusts the eye’s focus, providing clear vision, both up close and far away.
*
The lens is mostly made of water and protein. The protein is arranged in a precise way that keeps the lens clear and lets light pass through it.
As people age, some of the protein may clump together and start to cloud a small area of the lens. This is a cataract, and over time, it may grow larger and cloud more of the lens, making it harder to see.
How do I know if I have cataracts?
A cataract starts out small, and at first has little effect on one’s vision. Vision may be slightly blurred, like looking through a cloudy piece of glass.
“Around the age of 50, the lens inside peoples’ eyes become cloudy enough that I can see it with my slit-lamp microscope which I use with my eye examination,” said Dr. Juan Alvarado from the Fenton Vision Center. “Eye doctors generally don’t diagnose ‘clinical’ cataracts until the cloudiness becomes vision impairing.”
A cataract may make light from the sun or a lamp seem too bright or glaring. Night drivers may notice that the oncoming headlights cause more glare than before. Colors may not appear as bright as they once did.
If you think you have a cataract, see an eye doctor for an exam to find out for sure.
When cataract surgery becomes the best option, doctors at the Michigan Eye Institute say that there are fewer than half a dozen vision practices in the state of Michigan that offer their level of experience in cataract surgery.
“We don’t use shots, needles or stitches during this 18-minute surgery,” said Dr. Bernard Tekiele. “Patients actually leave our center after surgery without an eye patch. They can expect a quick recovery with minimal limitations.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a category of eye disorders associated with a dangerous build-up of internal eye pressure, which can damage the eye’s optic nerve that transmits visual information to the brain.
If left untreated, patients will notice decreased peripheral vision and it can lead to blindness. In fact, glaucoma creates at least some vision loss in more than half of the approximately 2.5 million Americans who have the disease. It is the second leading cause of blindness.
Glaucoma typically causes no pain and no symptoms, often progressing without detection until the optic nerve has already been irreversibly damaged, with varying degrees of permanent vision loss.
There is no cure, but proper treatment can dramatically slow or temporarily halt its progress. Glaucoma can be treated with either medication or surgery — both aimed at lowering intraocular pressure (IOP), or pressure within the eye.
In the U.S., medications are usually the first line of glaucoma treatment. If this fails, then glaucoma surgery is the next treatment considered.
Macular Degeneration
Macular Degeneration (MD) is the most common cause of irreversible loss of central vision for senior citizens, according to the Fenton Vision Center.
The macula is located in the center of the retina — the micro-thin membrane that lines the back inside of the eye. The retina has millions of light-sensitive nerve cells that capture images focused on the retina, according to Alvarado. These captured images are transmitted to the brain by the optic nerve.
Any damage to the macula results in some loss of central vision.
There are two forms of MD:
The dry form affects about 90 percent of patients diagnosed with MD. It’s usually a gradual process that develops over the years and may affect only one eye. A person may notice more difficulty seeing with one eye than the other, a distortion of straight lines or small dark spots in the field of vision.
The wet form is less common, but has more devastating vision loss. It occurs when tiny blood vessels in the micro-thin layer of tissue beneath the retina begin to degenerate, causing tiny leaks. This can cause swelling and breaks or lesions in the retina, damaging the retina’s light-sensitive nerve cells.
“There is no cure for macular degeneration, but there are ways to help cure or delay its progression,” said doctors at the Michigan Eye Institute. Patients who have the disease or a relative with the disease are encouraged to eat a variety of green leafy vegetables, take a multi-vitamin containing lutein, and fish oil or flaxseed supplements for omega-3 fatty acids.
According to Fenton Vision Center, lasers have been used to treat the wet form of MD, but the best results come from finding the cause, and treat that to slow its progression. “We offer dialation to everyone regardless of age for all diseases,” said Alvarado. “A thorough annual eye exam is the best protection for your vision.”
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Foundation Fighting Blindness’ National Neurovision Research Institute Heralds Collaboration for Gene Therapy Advancements
Foundation Fighting Blindness’ National Neurovision Research Institute Heralds Collaboration for Gene Therapy Advancements
OWINGS MILLS, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Neurovision Research Institute (NNRI), the Foundation Fighting Blindness’ clinical trial support organization, announced today that one of its key partners, biopharmaceutical company Oxford BioMedica, has established a collaboration with sanofi-aventis, a major international pharmaceutical company, to develop and commercialize gene therapy treatments for vision-robbing retinal degenerative diseases that affect tens of millions of people around the world.
The collaboration will significantly bolster the development of the following gene therapy products: StarGen™ for the treatment of Stargardt disease, a form of early-onset macular degeneration; UshStat™ for the treatment of Usher syndrome, the leading cause of deaf-blindness; RetinoStat® for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause vision loss in people 55 and older in developed countries; and EncorStat™ for corneal graft rejection.
The development of treatments for these and other retinal degenerative diseases is a key goal of the National Neurovision Research Institute and is the basis for its partnership with Oxford BioMedica. In 2006, Paul and Diane Manning, with the National Neurovision Research Institute, established a partnership with Oxford BioMedica to advance gene therapies for these and other related retinal degenerative diseases.
“The investment from sanofi-aventis is a wonderful boost for the development of Oxford BioMedica’s gene therapy products and will greatly enhance our ability to move these emerging treatments into and through the clinical trial process,” says Stephen Rose, Ph.D., chief research officer, Foundation Fighting Blindness. “This collaboration affirms the great potential for gene therapy to treat and cure a number of retinal degenerative diseases including Stargardt disease and Usher syndrome that, as rare diseases, often do not receive the attention or investment necessary to bring about promising treatments.”
“An important goal of the Foundation, through NNRI, is to attract investment from large pharmaceutical companies for the development and production of treatments for inherited retinal disease,” says Morton Goldberg, M.D., chairman of the board of NNRI. “The NNRI-Oxford partnership is an excellent model of how NNRI collaborations can accelerate the translation of laboratory-based research into clinical trials, ultimately getting successful treatments for rare diseases like inherited retinal degenerations to the market and out to the people who need them.”
Based on the agreement, Oxford BioMedica will receive approximately €43 million ($56 million) from sanofi-aventis over a three-year period. Oxford BioMedica is eligible to receive additional fees if development efforts are successful.
The treatments will utilize Oxford BioMedica’s LentiVector® gene delivery technology to deliver healthy vision-saving genes to the retina.
About Foundation Fighting Blindness
The Foundation Fighting Blindness is the largest source of non-governmental funding for retinal degenerative disease research in the world. The urgent mission of the Foundation Fighting Blindness is to drive the research that will provide preventions, treatments and cures for people affected by retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome, and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases. The Foundation has invested over $140 million to provide seed money for scientific research of diseases of the retina, which cause blindness. Further information is available at www.FightBlindness.org.
About National Neurovision Research Institute (NNRI)
NNRI is a recently-established non-profit support organization of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), the leading non-government funding source for inherited orphan retinal degeneration research. The mission of NNRI is to accelerate the translation of laboratory based research into clinical trials for treatments and cures of retinal degenerative diseases. It is a medical research institute that obtains support from government agencies, corporations and private foundations. It may also receive royalties or licensing fees from the drug discovery processes and commercialization of new therapies. Further information is available at www.nnri.info.
OWINGS MILLS, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Neurovision Research Institute (NNRI), the Foundation Fighting Blindness’ clinical trial support organization, announced today that one of its key partners, biopharmaceutical company Oxford BioMedica, has established a collaboration with sanofi-aventis, a major international pharmaceutical company, to develop and commercialize gene therapy treatments for vision-robbing retinal degenerative diseases that affect tens of millions of people around the world.
The collaboration will significantly bolster the development of the following gene therapy products: StarGen™ for the treatment of Stargardt disease, a form of early-onset macular degeneration; UshStat™ for the treatment of Usher syndrome, the leading cause of deaf-blindness; RetinoStat® for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause vision loss in people 55 and older in developed countries; and EncorStat™ for corneal graft rejection.
The development of treatments for these and other retinal degenerative diseases is a key goal of the National Neurovision Research Institute and is the basis for its partnership with Oxford BioMedica. In 2006, Paul and Diane Manning, with the National Neurovision Research Institute, established a partnership with Oxford BioMedica to advance gene therapies for these and other related retinal degenerative diseases.
“The investment from sanofi-aventis is a wonderful boost for the development of Oxford BioMedica’s gene therapy products and will greatly enhance our ability to move these emerging treatments into and through the clinical trial process,” says Stephen Rose, Ph.D., chief research officer, Foundation Fighting Blindness. “This collaboration affirms the great potential for gene therapy to treat and cure a number of retinal degenerative diseases including Stargardt disease and Usher syndrome that, as rare diseases, often do not receive the attention or investment necessary to bring about promising treatments.”
“An important goal of the Foundation, through NNRI, is to attract investment from large pharmaceutical companies for the development and production of treatments for inherited retinal disease,” says Morton Goldberg, M.D., chairman of the board of NNRI. “The NNRI-Oxford partnership is an excellent model of how NNRI collaborations can accelerate the translation of laboratory-based research into clinical trials, ultimately getting successful treatments for rare diseases like inherited retinal degenerations to the market and out to the people who need them.”
Based on the agreement, Oxford BioMedica will receive approximately €43 million ($56 million) from sanofi-aventis over a three-year period. Oxford BioMedica is eligible to receive additional fees if development efforts are successful.
The treatments will utilize Oxford BioMedica’s LentiVector® gene delivery technology to deliver healthy vision-saving genes to the retina.
About Foundation Fighting Blindness
The Foundation Fighting Blindness is the largest source of non-governmental funding for retinal degenerative disease research in the world. The urgent mission of the Foundation Fighting Blindness is to drive the research that will provide preventions, treatments and cures for people affected by retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome, and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases. The Foundation has invested over $140 million to provide seed money for scientific research of diseases of the retina, which cause blindness. Further information is available at www.FightBlindness.org.
About National Neurovision Research Institute (NNRI)
NNRI is a recently-established non-profit support organization of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), the leading non-government funding source for inherited orphan retinal degeneration research. The mission of NNRI is to accelerate the translation of laboratory based research into clinical trials for treatments and cures of retinal degenerative diseases. It is a medical research institute that obtains support from government agencies, corporations and private foundations. It may also receive royalties or licensing fees from the drug discovery processes and commercialization of new therapies. Further information is available at www.nnri.info.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Tufts Medical Center Researchers Create a New Predictive Model for Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
Tufts Medical Center Researchers Create a New Predictive Model for Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
BOSTON, April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers at Tufts Medical Center have created a formula for predicting how likely it is that individuals with certain genetic profiles and lifestyle behaviors will develop advanced Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a potentially blinding condition that currently affects an estimated two million older Americans and is increasing dramatically as the population ages.
The study, led by Johanna M. Seddon, MD, ScM, Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine and Director of the Ophthalmic Epidemiology and Genetics Service at Tufts Medical Center, evaluated six genotypes that either increase or decrease risk for AMD. In addition to age, sex, and education, she also incorporated smoking status and higher body mass index (BMI) which increase risk of AMD, and supplementation with a high-dose formulation of antioxidants and zinc which delays progression of the disease. Using their new algorithm, Dr. Seddon and her colleagues determined that several genotypes plus the lifestyle factors can predict progression to the advanced forms of AMD with a certainty as high as 83%. The paper, "Prediction model for prevalence and incidence of advanced age-related macular degeneration based on genetic, demographic, and environmental variables" was published in the May issue of the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.
Their research also shows that although AMD has a strong genetic component, healthy behaviors can modify your genetic susceptibility. For example, among individuals with one genotype, the homozygous C3 risk genotype, the likelihood of progression to the advanced form of AMD increased from about three-fold for nonsmokers to nearly 10-fold for smokers.
"Our algorithm could help with the selection of study participants for treatment trials and could one day enable doctors to choose the most efficacious treatment for individual patients," Dr. Seddon said. "It also gives any older person concerned about AMD, or any patient with early stages or a family history of AMD, even more incentive to avoid risk factors such as smoking and excessive weight."
The study included 1,446 individuals from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study who had 6.3 years of follow-up, of which 279 progressed to the advanced stages of AMD.
About Tufts Medical Center
Tufts Medical Center is a not-for-profit, 439-bed academic medical center that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and Floating Hospital for Children.
BOSTON, April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers at Tufts Medical Center have created a formula for predicting how likely it is that individuals with certain genetic profiles and lifestyle behaviors will develop advanced Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a potentially blinding condition that currently affects an estimated two million older Americans and is increasing dramatically as the population ages.
The study, led by Johanna M. Seddon, MD, ScM, Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine and Director of the Ophthalmic Epidemiology and Genetics Service at Tufts Medical Center, evaluated six genotypes that either increase or decrease risk for AMD. In addition to age, sex, and education, she also incorporated smoking status and higher body mass index (BMI) which increase risk of AMD, and supplementation with a high-dose formulation of antioxidants and zinc which delays progression of the disease. Using their new algorithm, Dr. Seddon and her colleagues determined that several genotypes plus the lifestyle factors can predict progression to the advanced forms of AMD with a certainty as high as 83%. The paper, "Prediction model for prevalence and incidence of advanced age-related macular degeneration based on genetic, demographic, and environmental variables" was published in the May issue of the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.
Their research also shows that although AMD has a strong genetic component, healthy behaviors can modify your genetic susceptibility. For example, among individuals with one genotype, the homozygous C3 risk genotype, the likelihood of progression to the advanced form of AMD increased from about three-fold for nonsmokers to nearly 10-fold for smokers.
"Our algorithm could help with the selection of study participants for treatment trials and could one day enable doctors to choose the most efficacious treatment for individual patients," Dr. Seddon said. "It also gives any older person concerned about AMD, or any patient with early stages or a family history of AMD, even more incentive to avoid risk factors such as smoking and excessive weight."
The study included 1,446 individuals from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study who had 6.3 years of follow-up, of which 279 progressed to the advanced stages of AMD.
About Tufts Medical Center
Tufts Medical Center is a not-for-profit, 439-bed academic medical center that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and Floating Hospital for Children.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Othera's Eye Drop to Cure ARMD Seems Promising But Too Early to Tell
Othera's Eye Drop to Cure ARMD Seems Promising But Too Early to Tell
April 16, 2009
Implications
An eye drop that stabilizes the most common form of AMD is encouraging. The ability for an eye drop to be effective is curious. Historically it has been difficult to get any medication effectively delivered to the retina via topical medications. The development of geographic atrophy is very, very slow and it is surprising that a positive trend can be noted in such a short time.
Analysis
Macular degeneration is on the rise. It is estimated that the prevalence of the disease will double in the next 40 years. Macular degeneration is often broken down into "wet" and "dry." The exudative, or wet form, involves choroidal neovascularization and is treated with anti-VEGF treatments such as Avastin, Macugen or Lucentis.
The dry form is the more common form affecting about 90% of all those afflicted with macular degeneration. The most severe of these is geographic atrophy (GA). It is a slowly progressive disease causing damage and loss of the vital underlying RPE cells. It usually takes years for patients to notice a change to their vision.
The news release describes a treatment that may be potentially helpful to most patients that are afflicted with macular degeneration. A simple eye drop to treat this disease is very intriguing. Presently, most treatments for wet macular degeneration involve direct intraocular injection of a substance as topical therapy has traditionally yielded poor drug levels reaching the retinal surface.
Clinically, it has been my experience that the disease progresses very slowly and to notice a change, for better or worse, in such a short time of two years is surprising.
Randall V. Wong, M.D.
April 16, 2009
Implications
An eye drop that stabilizes the most common form of AMD is encouraging. The ability for an eye drop to be effective is curious. Historically it has been difficult to get any medication effectively delivered to the retina via topical medications. The development of geographic atrophy is very, very slow and it is surprising that a positive trend can be noted in such a short time.
Analysis
Macular degeneration is on the rise. It is estimated that the prevalence of the disease will double in the next 40 years. Macular degeneration is often broken down into "wet" and "dry." The exudative, or wet form, involves choroidal neovascularization and is treated with anti-VEGF treatments such as Avastin, Macugen or Lucentis.
The dry form is the more common form affecting about 90% of all those afflicted with macular degeneration. The most severe of these is geographic atrophy (GA). It is a slowly progressive disease causing damage and loss of the vital underlying RPE cells. It usually takes years for patients to notice a change to their vision.
The news release describes a treatment that may be potentially helpful to most patients that are afflicted with macular degeneration. A simple eye drop to treat this disease is very intriguing. Presently, most treatments for wet macular degeneration involve direct intraocular injection of a substance as topical therapy has traditionally yielded poor drug levels reaching the retinal surface.
Clinically, it has been my experience that the disease progresses very slowly and to notice a change, for better or worse, in such a short time of two years is surprising.
Randall V. Wong, M.D.
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