News

Alameda, CA-The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office said InSite Vision Inc.'s patent gives the company sole rights to the use of azalide antibiotic formulations as a topical treatment of ocular infections.

Mountain View, CA-IRIDEX Corp. has completed enrollment in a clinical trial for its TTT4CNV, to determine whether trans-pupillary thermotherapy (TTT) laser treatment can reduce the risk of vision loss for patients with occult wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Irvine, CA-ISTA Pharmaceuticals is regrouping after an FDA advisory committee said the company's tests of ovine hyal-uronidase (Vitrase) failed to demonstrate sufficient statistical evidence to support its efficacy in treating vitreous hemorrhage.

Irvine, CA-In early April, cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion 0.05% (Restasis, Allergan) became commercially available for the treatment of eye inflammation associated with keratoconjunctivitis sicca. The introduction of the product marks the first therapeutic option for people with dry eye by not only providing temporary relief of dry eye, but also treating the associated ocular inflammation, according to the company.

Boston-Multiple intravitreal injections of rhuFab V2 (Genentech Inc., San Francisco) are well-tolerated and appear to have favorable biologic activity for the treatment of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), said Jeffrey S. Heier, MD, of Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston and the Center for Eye Research, principal investigator for that trial.

Patients seeking an ophthalmologist or medical information have much more data at their disposal today than did previous generations.

How should you, and why is it advisable to, integrate optometrists into your ophthalmology practice? Should the physician treat the optometrist as a "super-tech" or as an eye doctor?

Royal Oak, MI-Optical coherence tomography (OCT) may be more sensitive than fluorescein angiography in detecting vitreofoveal traction and differences in thickness in the different areas of the macula in patients with persistent diabetic macular edema (DME). While fluorescein angiography remains the standard in imaging, Cynthia Carvalho-Recchia, MD, suggested an adjunctive role for OCT in patients with DME.

Philadelphia-Gene therapy has successfully restored the visual function of blind dogs with a rare congenital retinal disease, according to early research results. This breakthrough holds implications for the treat- ment of several human retinal degenerative diseases within the next several years.

Editor's Note: Sight is precious, but its impairment does not preclude achievement. Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Andrea Bocelli are just a few successful people that come to my mind immediately. There are many others!

Cincinnati-The third and fourth issues of the 2002 Video Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, published by Robert H. Osher, MD, are available free to residency programs in the United States and ophthalmologists around the world.

Washington, DC-The New Jersey Assembly will consider a bill that would allow optometrists to perform surgery, including LASIK, when it returns from budget break in May or June.

Rochester, NY-Bausch & Lomb is launch-ing its most ambitious TV advertising campaign ever, marking a new creative direction and marketing strategy for the 150-year-old company.

Washington, DC-PRK causes no loss of visual resolution and, in fact, improves uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and visual resolution during use of night vision goggles under a range of night sky conditions.

Mississauga, Ontario-TLC Vision Corp. has acquired American Eye Instruments, of Gold Beach, OR, for an undisclosed amount.

Portland, OR-Researchers in the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) began participation in February in a gene therapy trial for patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Fort Lauderdale, FL-The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) turns 75 years this year. To commemorate this major milestone, several special events are planned during the annual meeting from May 4 to 8 in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Orlando-WhiteStar, a power control upgrade for the Sovereign system (AMO, Santa Ana, CA), maximizes the efficiency and safety of phacoemulsification for cataracts of any hardness, according to speakers at an American Academy of Ophthalmology an-nual meeting breakfast symposium sponsored by AMO.

Salt Lake City-Dysphotopsias, the unwant-ed optical images seen at night, pose an annoying and sometimes debilitating effect for cataract patients receiving IOLs with a truncated edge. To minimize these effects, efforts to modify the IOL edge have paid off, according to Randall J. Olson, MD.

Indianapolis-Preoperative povidone-iodine antisepsis showed the strongest support in the literature for preventing bacterial endophthalmitis in patients undergoing cataract surgery. However, that recommendation was judged to be only "moderately important" to clinical outcome, based on the quality of the available evidence. The review failed to find that any technique was crucial to clinical outcome, said Thomas A. Ciulla, MD.

The Dell PlumeSafe Evacuation (DPE) System for use during excimer laser surgery enables safer and more effective plume evacuation, according to its designer, Steven J. Dell, MD, of Texan Eye Care, Austin, TX.

Treating patients who have irregular astigmatism or decentered ablations is made easier with the advent of new technologies, according to two refractive surgeons.

Minneapolis-As refractive surgery gains in popularity, it is imperative that an IOP measurement not be the sole criterion for glaucoma screening, said Minneapolis ophthalmologist Thomas W. Samuelson, MD.

Forli, Italy-Automated anterior lamellar keratoplasty offers a number of advantages over other therapeutic approaches in the treatment of keratoconus, according to Massimo Busin, MD. Importantly, patients experience rapid visual recovery and achieve exceptionally good visual acuity (VA) results.

Little Silver, NJ-LASIK monovision is a viable choice for both myopia and hyperopia, but careful patient selection is crucial for best results, particularly among patients with hyperopia, said Daniel B. Goldberg, MD, FACS, Atlantic Laser Center, Little Silver, NJ.

Baltimore-Use caution when re-treating a patient who has had refractive surgery, advised Nada S. Jabbur, MD. Just as care should be taken in performing initial LASIK procedures, re-treatments require special care and should not be trivialized, according to Dr. Jabbur.

Andover, MA-The antibiotic ISV-401 (InSite Vision, Alameda, CA) in development to treat acute bacterial conjunctivitis has achieved a bacterial eradication rate of 85% by the third day of treatment and 90% by 7 to 9 days, according to a phase II clinical trial.

Orlando-Children with moderate amblyopia may be successfully treated with patching or atropine drops, regardless of age less than 7 years or depth of amblyopia for the most common causes of amblyopia, according to Michael X. Repka, MD, at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.