by Dan Roberts Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (now owned by Astellas) has been conducting promising safety trials for stem cell treatment of macular degeneration, but a six-month follow up has yielded even better news than expected. ACT announced that Phase 1/2 clinical data treatment of Stargardt’s macular degeneration (SMD) and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Surprising even [Read More]
Category: Research and Developments
Gene Profiling Technique Accelerates Stem Cell Therapies for Retinal Diseases
(Source: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health) Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed a technique that will streamline the production of stem-cell derived tissues. The technique will help the researchers in their efforts to use patients’ skin cells to create new retinal tissue, a therapy that has been recently applied to [Read More]
New research on UV rays and cataract
Courtesy: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health (NEI/NIH) A new study offers an explanation for how years of chronic sunlight exposure can increase the risk of cataract, a clouding of the eye lens that typically occurs with aging. The study firms up a link between the sun’s damaging rays and a process called oxidative [Read More]
Squalamine Eye Drops Under Study for Wet AMD
(Updated 4/17/16) On June 24, 2014, Ohr Pharmaceutical, Inc. announced positive top-line interim results for its Phase 2 clinical trial of Squalamine eye drops in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). The data demonstrated a positive benefit in multiple visual function including a gain in visual acuity of +10.4 letters with Squalamine eye [Read More]
Omega-3 Inhibits Retinal Blood Vessel Growth
Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School and other institutions have demonstrated for the first time that the omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs), DHA and EPA, can inhibit choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Their findings will be published in PNAS Online Early Edition the week of June 16-20, 2014. “These are [Read More]