FDA Approves First Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Dystrophy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), a new gene therapy developed by Spark Therapeutics, to treat an inherited form of vision loss that can result in blindness.  The most prevalent inherited retinal dystrophies are retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and Stargardt disease (SD), all of which have [Read More]

Help Your Ophthalmologist Help You

Please share this article with your ophthalmologist Vision rehabilitation is the standard of care for patients who are losing their vision, and ophthalmologists are key to improving access to care for these patients. Recognizing this, Lighthouse Guild is offering ophthalmologists free access to an eLearning program titled, “Introduction to Vision Rehabilitation.” Dr. Alan R. Morse, [Read More]

Iluvian Continues to Show Good Results in DME Trials

We reported here in 2015 that Iluvian, a unique drug implant devised by Alimera Sciences, had entered trials for treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). The drug is a corticosteroid that has demonstrated effectiveness in the treatment of DME without the need for monthly injections. Jay Prensky, MD (investigator for Alimera Sciences) reported to the [Read More]

Headworn Video Devices Are Helping The Visually Impaired To See Better

by Dan Roberts (Updated 1/11/2019) Portable electronic magnifiers have come a long way in the past decade, improving clarity of vision for thousands. A natural development for those who prefer to have their hands free has been the creation of several types of headworn video devices, the leaders in the field being eSight, NuEyes, and [Read More]

Incidence of AMD Dramatically Declining

A recent observational study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been dramatically lessening over three generations. After looking at follow-up data on 4,819 participants and their offspring in the Beaver Dam studies (1987-2013), Karen J. Cruickshanks, Ph.D. et al found that the incidence of [Read More]