News

Primary readout results from 24 months of follow-up in the pivotal phase III fluocinolone acetonide in diabetic macular edema studies demonstrate that a novel investigational corticosteroid-releasing intravitreal insert provides rapid and sustained improvement in visual acuity and macular swelling with an acceptable safety profile.

Despite having a variety of imaging and treatment technologies available for retinal disease management, each technology has inherent properties that define its limitations. Integration of combinations of these technologies promises to be the best remedy for these individual shortcomings and may help achieve optimal outcomes.

ISTA Pharmaceuticals announced Oct. 16 that it had received FDA approval to market bromfenac ophthalmic solution 0.09% as a once-daily treatment for inflammation and reduction of ocular pain in patients who had undergone cataract surgery.

Medicare cut looming

As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services prepares to implement a 23.5% pay cut on Dec. 1, physicians who treat Medicare patients are pleading with Congres to intervene and considering their options.

An implantable, refillable pump for intraocular drug delivery currently in the prototype stage has potential applications that include treatment of glaucoma as well as several retinal diseases currently treated with frequent intravitreal injections.

Results from 12 weeks of follow-up in a phase I dose-escalating, safety and tolerability study evaluating intravitreal volociximab in combination with ranibizumab for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration are favorable in showing no dose-limiting toxicity so far, according to one expert.

The idea to use a nanosecond laser-based treatment to impede the progress of age-related macular degeneration seems to have been fruitful.

A published study of treatment-na?ve patients with glaucoma prescribed a prostaglandin analogue agent re-affirms that persistence with ocular hypertension therapy is an important problem.

Results of a retrospective study analyzing images acquired by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography show that when compared with healthy control eyes, the subfoveal choroid is thinner in eyes with glaucoma and thicker in eyes with ocular hypertension.

Lenses with vision

Learn from Benjamin Franklin's wisdom how all lenses are "specialty" lenses in a sense.

The implantation of multiple trabecular micro-bypass implants in Schlemm's canal following phacoemulsification successfully and significantly reduced IOP for 12 months after implantation as well as the number of medications required to maintain the target IOP.

Simplification of the therapeutic regimen to enable compliance is the primary rationale for using a fixed-combination product in the management of glaucoma, but IOP-lowering efficacy along with safety and tolerability cannot be overlooked.

A portfolio of diagnostic, therapeutic, and data management tools for glaucoma can improve clinical assessment and progression analysis.

Alcon Laboratories announced Sept. 21 that the FDA approved travoprost ophthalmic solution 0.004% formulated with a proprietary ionic-buffered preservative system for first-line treatment to reduce elevated IOP in patients with ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma.

The newly expanded $132 million Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, boasts 230,000 square feet of clinical and research space across eight floors that house clinics, six operating rooms, research space, and faculty offices.

Disability from symptoms of dry eye disease among patients using latanoprost 0.005% may be significantly improved by switching to a benzalkonium chloride-free formulation of travoprost 0.004%.

Alpha adrenoceptor agonist therapy using brimonidine tartrate 0.1% with a preservative has a wide spectrum of uses in the management of ocular hypertension and glaucoma.