Keyword: maculardegeneration
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ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- The first drug shown to significantly improve the vision of patients threatened by a major cause of blindness in the elderly won federal approval Friday. The drug, called Lucentis, treats the wet form of age-related macular degeneration, a disorder where blood vessels behind the retina leak blood and fluid, worsening vision and often causing blindness. An estimated 90 percent of the 1.4 million Americans who have lost their eyesight due to the disorder have the wet form. Lucentis, made by Genentech, Inc., a South San Francisco, Calif., biotechnology company, inhibits the growth of blood vessels when...
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UF finding could lead to approaches to treat macular degeneration GAINESVILLE, Fla. - University of Florida scientists conducting experiments with mice have found evidence that the body naturally replenishes small amounts of cells in the eye essential for healthy vision. The finding may shatter the belief that a cell layer vital for eyesight called the retinal pigment epithelium, or RPE, is a nonrenewable resource, say researchers writing in a recent issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. RPE plays a vital role in our visual health by forming the outer barrier of the retina and supporting the function of cells...
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Eating carrots, which are rich in the nutrient beta carotene, as well as foods containing the antioxidant vitamins C and E and zinc, results in a significantly reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration in elderly people, a new Dutch study has found. Currently, age-related macular degeneration affects 11.5 percent of white people over the age of 80. The number of people severely disabled by late-stage AMD in the United States is expected to increase by more than 50 percent, to 3 million, in the next 20 years. Previous studies evaluating antioxidants had shown conflicting results, with one major study showing...
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The Implantable Miniature Telescope (IMT), invented by Israeli doctor Isaac Lipshitz is offering hope to the eight million Americans who suffer vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration, known as AMD. In clinical trials, VisionCare's revolutionary device drastically improved the vision of almost 200 patients, with the results paving the way for its imminent FDA approval.
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Scientists say they have identified a genetic variation that substantially raises the risk of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss in the elderly. The finding, being reported independently by three separate research groups, sheds light on the cause of the disease and could provide clues to how to develop treatments or strategies to prevent the condition. The genetic variation "explains a lot of the risk," said Dr. Albert O. Edwards, an ophthalmology researcher in Dallas who led of one of the studies. "There's a primary biological explanation for A.M.D. now. It gives you some obvious avenues...
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Associated Press The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved a new drug designed to treat the leading cause of blindness in older Americans. Age-related macular degeneration destroys the light-sensitive tissue in the center of the retina, causing vision to fail gradually from the center outward. The new drug, Macugen, attacks the rapidly progressing "wet" type of AMD, in which new blood vessels form behind the retina and then leak, damaging the macula. That form affects an estimated 1.6 million Americans over 50, and about 6.3 million are expected to be affected by 2030 as the baby boomers age. Macugen inhibits...
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"/> September 14, 2004 Method to Turn Off Bad Genes Is Set for Tests on Human EyesBy ANDREW POLLACK f all goes according to plan, about half a dozen elderly people at risk of blindness will visit Dr. Lawrence J. Singerman's retina clinic in the coming weeks to receive injections in the whites of their eyes. The experimental injections will contain a new type of drug based on a recently discovered genetic phenomenon, called RNA interference, that has excited scientists with its versatile and powerful ability to turn off genes. Having quickly become a...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - A drug that attacks a major form of elderly blindness passed a key hurdle Friday as the government's scientific advisers decided that it poses no significant risks. Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration did not vote formally whether Eyetech Pharmaceuticals' drug, Macugen, should be approved, but eye doctors on the panel said they were impressed by the research. The FDA will consider those opinions as it evaluates the product. Macugen is aimed at treating one type of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among older Americans. The disease steals sight from the center of...
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Eyetech Pharmaceuticals' drug to treat the leading cause of blindness in the elderly appeared to move closer to a broad government approval yesterday after an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration spoke favorably about it. The advisory panel was not asked to vote on whether the drug, Macugen, should be approved as a treatment for age-related macular degeneration. But committee members ruled unanimously that Eyetech had provided the F.D.A. with enough information to evaluate the drug. The panel members also did not seem to raise any serious new issues that would block approval. "It appears to me very...
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MONDAY, June 14 (HealthDayNews) -- Bananas, oranges, and other fruits may reduce the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among older people. Scientists have found that people who ate at least three daily servings of fruit had a 36 percent lower risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) than people who ate fewer than 1.5 servings a day. "This is the first good study that has some statistical value that documents what we've been thinking all along," said Dr. Robert Cykiert, a professor of ophthalmology at New York University School of Medicine in New York...
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With a stylish exterior of metallic blue and gray, the device looks like a personal digital assistant but slightly larger. Julius Mendalis, 84, a lawyer for the company that makes Arizona Iced Tea, paid $795 for this gadget, and he loves it, though he is not a man of technology, rarely uses computers and does not surf the Web. It is helping him read again. The Quicklook, an amalgamation of a tiny digital video camera and a four-inch liquid-crystal display screen, acts as an electronic magnifying glass, enlarging the text of a newspaper or a legal brief to an inch...
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