Jennifer A. Webb

The FDA has cleared for marketing a hand-held spectral-domain ophthalmic imaging system that opens new doors to ophthalmologists to diagnose eye disease in infants, children, and disabled adults.

A record number of ophthalmologists hit the hallways on Capitol Hill last month to urge their legislators to protect Americans' access to eye care and boost funding for eye research.

Ophthalmologists should not order routine genetic tests for patients with common disorders like age-related macular degeneration until there are specific therapeutic interventions available to treat the disease based on the genetic information.

Having the ARVO meeting in any of various locations enables the group to accommodate more program options and have a variety of hotel options nearby.

FDA investigators say counterfeit vials of Roche/Genentech's bevacizumab that have turned up in U.S. medical practices for the second time in 2 months have no active ingredient.

Six years after OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. bought Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $650 million on the promise of its treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. has announced it will acquire Eyetech for $22 million.

ISTA Pharmaceuticals says it is discussing a potential sale with a number of buyers, as Canada's biggest drug maker presses the board to accept its $360 million takeover bid.

Hansjoerg E.J.W. Kolder, MD, PhD, will e remembered as a beloved cataract surgeon, professor, and clinician whose natural curiosity led him to pursue a degree in ophthalmology after working extensively in physiology.

Legislators will try to sort out a fair compensation system for physicians after they staved off a scheduled 27.4% pay cut for those who treat Medicare patients.

While physicians who treat Medicare patients are confronting a drastic pay cut Jan. 1, a number of legislators are scrambling, again, to block the scheduled reduction with a permanent solution.

David F. Weeks was a quarter master in the U.S. Army, earned a business administration degree, and raised funds for philanthropic causes - all before Jules Stein, MD, hired him in 1961 to lead the newly formed Research to Prevent Blindness.

Two reports issued by a federal health-care agency, claiming that screening and treatment of glaucoma have been ineffective, ignore more than 30 years of evidence to the contrary.

After enduring several disappointing drug trials of treatments that once held promise for dry eye and cystic fibrosis, Inspire Pharmaceuticals will become part of Merck & Co. Inc. in a $430 million acquisition.

Organizations representing ophthalmologists and other physicians' groups are urging Congress to find a solution this year to the flawed payment formula that requires physicians to take a 29.5% pay cut in January 2012.

A newly upgraded spectral-domain, optical coherence tomography (OCT) device with a non-mydriatic, color fundus camera enables clinicians to detect retinal abnormalities often missed during routine patient exams.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reversed a reimbursement decision that would have forced clinicians to switch treatment for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration from bevacizumab to ranibizumab.

Fellow ophthalmologists and business partners are mourning the loss of Jeffrey P. Gilbard, MD, 55, whose career was filled with innovative ideas and solutions for treating dry eye disease.

Hideo Ozawa, the founder and chairman of Nidek Co. Ltd., is being remembered as a visionary who combined optics and electronics to advance vision technology around the world. Ozawa, 79, died June 16.

As members of Congress return home for August recess, the nation's dialogue continues over how best to provide health-care coverage to 44 million uninsured Americans.

Two prominent cornea specialists have been appointed chairmen of ophthalmology departments in Miami and New York City.

A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, an editorial in American Family Physician, articles in the general media outlets, and an updated patient advisory statement from the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the American Academy of Ophthalmology aim to further education primary care physicians and patients about the association between a patient's use of tamsulosin and complications or difficulty during cataract surgery.

Besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension 0.6% (Besivance, Bausch & Lomb) is a new topical ophthalmic antibacterial indicated for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis and administered via sterile ophthalmic drops.

When Kevin Buehler takes the reins as chief executive officer of Alcon Inc. after the March 31 retirement of Cary Rayment, one of his goals will be to increase the pace of innovation at the company, to drive growth, he tells Ophthalmology Times in an exclusive interview.

Advanced Medical Optics Inc., the Allergan spin-off that went on to become one of the leading publicly traded companies in ophthalmology, will become part of Abbott Laboratories Inc. in a $2.8 billion deal expected to close before the end of the first quarter.

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) voluntarily recalled a single lot of its ophthalmic viscosurgical device ([OVD] Healon D) after physicians noticed inflammation at some patients' 1-day postoperative visit.

Today, 150 years later, what has come to be known as the University of Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary continues to strive for excellence in medical education, care and treatment of patients, and cutting-edge research.

With equipment prices rising and a 10.1% cut in Medicare reimbursement Doctors are facing the realities of Medicare's new fee schedule set to take effect on Jan. 1. , Congress was divided on how to address the cut. Democrats, led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), proposed a 2-year fee fix, whereas Republicans, led by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), advocated a 1-year fix. The American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery are working with the American Medical Association to seek a fully funded, 2-year positive update for doctors. They are urging doctors to contact their legislators.

As Genentech prepares to stop selling bevacizumab (Avastin) to compounding pharmacies on Jan. 1, retina specialists are watching to see what effect a Senate investigation may have on the drug's availability.

Bausch & Lomb has changed its ads that say its contact lens solution (ReNu MultiPlus) was the number one selling multipurpose formula in the United States after Alcon challenged it.

Fort Worth, TX-The presence of mold in multiple bottles of Systane Free Liquid Gel has forced Alcon Laboratories Inc. to issue a voluntary recall of the product.