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Volume 20, Number 45 |
20 November 2015 |
Alphaeon (Irvine, Calif.) announced earlier this week its intention to buy Orlando, Fla.-based LENSAR, which makes femtosecond laser systems for cataract surgery. The deal is said to be worth about $59 million and is expected to close before the end of the year.
The PanoCam LT, a compact, wireless imaging system designed to detect a number of external, anterior, and posterior segment vision disorders in newborn children, has been granted U.S. regulatory approval, said developer Visunex (Fremont, Calif.). Early research conducted in Asia, Brazil, and the United States suggests that 1 in 70 children born may have some form of vision disorder, the company added, and vision screening is not currently provided as standard of care in most neonatal centers.
A clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH, Washington, D.C.) has found Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech, South San Francisco) is highly effective in treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). The trial, conducted by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net), compared Lucentis with panretinal photocoagulation. The findings demonstrate the first major therapy advance in nearly 40 years, according to the NIH.
The DRCR.net randomized 305 participants (394 eyes) with PDR in one or both eyes to Lucentis or laser. About half of the eyes assigned to the laser group required more than one round of laser treatment. The Lucentis arm (0.5 mg/0.05 ml) was a PRN protocol after a 3-month dose-loading phase. Lucentis was allowed as rescue therapy in the laser group, and about 53% of those patients received at least one Lucentis injection. Conversely, only 6% of those in the Lucentis arm needed laser therapy (predominantly to treat retinal detachment or bleeding).
At 2 years, there was little change in side vision with injection (average worsening of 23 decibels) but a substantial loss of side vision with laser (average worsening of 422 decibels). The vitrectomy rate was lower in the Lucentis group (8 of 191 eyes) than in the laser group (30 of 203 eyes).
The first randomized, controlled phase 2 study comparing the Helios bimatoprost ocular insert to twice-daily timolol eye drops showed the insert provided sustained reduction in intraocular pressure (IOP) for 6 months and IOP reduction of 4-6 mm Hg at the study's primary endpoint of 12 weeks, developer ForSight VISION5 (Menlo Park, Calif.) said in a news release.
The phase 2 study enrolled 130 subjects; about 90% of subjects retained inserts in both eyes for 6 months without clinician assistance, the company said. Mean diurnal IOP after washout was 23.8 mm Hg. A sustained reduction in IOP from a single dose of the bimatoprost insert was observed to be 4-6 mm Hg across the three diurnal time points at the primary endpoint of 3 months, and clinically relevant IOP reduction continued through 6 months.
Data reported through the IRIS Registry (American Academy of Ophthalmology, AAO, San Francisco) shows no significant difference in endophthalmitis rates between the three most commonly used anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration, the AAO said in a press release, with a difference in infection rates among the three at 0.01%. Data was compiled on about 1.1 million injections given to about 175,000 unique patients from 2013 to 2014. However, endophthalmitis rates appeared to be slightly higher in eyes that had cataract surgery combined with anterior vitrectomy.
Researchers say medicated eye drops may be the key to fighting rapidly worsening eyesight in children with myopia. Results from a 5-year clinical trial show that drops of low-dose atropine significantly slowed the progression of nearsightedness in children with fewer side effects than higher dosages, according to Donald T. Tan, FRCS, professor of ophthalmology, Singapore Eye Research Institute and the Singapore National Eye Centre.
The study began enrolling in 2006, with 400 children age 6 to 12 randomly assigned a daily dose of atropine. Three different groups took drops nightly at concentrations of 0.5, 0.1, or .01% for 2 years. Doctors then stopped the medication for 12 months. For children whose eyes became more myopic during that year off (-0.5 D or more), researchers started another round at 0.01% for another 2 years. Atropine eye drops at 0.01% slowed myopia progression by an estimated 50% compared to children not treated with the medication in an earlier study, Dr. Tan said.
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