Two experimental treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, based on stem cell grafts and gene therapy respectively, may soon move to clinical trials. Both have shown a capacity to improve the visual function in mice.

 

Dr. Stephen H. Tsang, researcher at Columbia University and ophthalmologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/CUMC described these findings as “very encouraging.” “We’ve never seen this type of improvement in retinal functions in mouse models of RP,” he says.

 

One of the treatments involves iPS stem cell grafts. These cells are capable of developing into any cell type and are not derived from embryos but from adult cells. They are injected into the retina and are assimilated into the pigmented epithelium. The benefits of this procedure lasted over the entire mice lifespan.

 

The other treatment was focussed on correcting genetic defects. The researchers injected healthy copies of a gene into the retina of mice. After six months, they found photoreceptor cells in the treated eye, which was able to see, but not in the other eye, which had lost vision.

 

Source:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/254385.php

 

 

A recent study shows that changes in blood vessels in the retina can be an early warning that a person is at risk of developing glaucoma.

 

Researchers led by Dr. Paul Mitchell, of the Centre for Vision Research at the University of Sydney, Australia, studied diagnostic photos and other data from the Australian Blue Mountains Eye Study, which involved nearly 2,500 patients. They found that those whose arteries were abnormally narrow at the start of the study were at increased risk of glaucoma 10 years later.

 

“Our results suggest that a computer-based imaging tool designed to detect narrowing of the retinal artery caliber, or diameter, could effectively identify those who are most at risk for open-angle glaucoma,” said Dr. Mitchell. “Such a tool would also need to account for blood pressure and other factors that can contribute to blood vessel changes. Early detection would allow ophthalmologists to treat patients before optic nerve damage occurs and would give us the best chance of protecting their vision.”

 

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130102083613.htm

 

According to specialized news website Bloomberg, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are in the running to acquire Bausch + Lomb, which Warburg Pincus LLC is seeking to sell. Merck & Co and Pfizer have also shown interest in the company, according to Bloomberg, which has quoted anonymous sources.

 

Warburg expects to receive the first-round bids by the end of January, and is said to be seeking at least $10 billion. Such a transaction would be the third biggest sale ever by a private-equity-controlled company. The company had paid about $4.6 billion in 2007 for Bausch + Lomb, an acquisition that included debt. Since then, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization have risen from $400 million to just under $700 million. Its 2013 projected earnings are about $800 million.

 

Bausch + Lomb’s businesses are pharmaceuticals, vision care and surgical. About 40% of its sales come from North America, 33% from Europe and the rest from Asia and Latin America. Its Canadian head office is located in Vaughan, Ontario.

Source:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/abbott-j-j-sanofi-said-to-show-interest-in-bausch-lomb-bid.html

 

 

 

In the United States, the National Academy of Engineering presented the prestigious Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ prize to three scientists whose work has led to the development of PRK and LASIK eye surgery.

 

Rangaswamy Srinivasan, James J. Wynne and Samuel E. Blum will receive their awards at a gala dinner event in Washington, D.C., in February. The highest honour in the field of bioengineering, this award comes with a $500,000 grant.

 

At the end of 2011, nearly 25 million people had undergone pulsed ultraviolet laser surgery to improve their eyesight, a procedure made possible by the discovery of ablative photodecomposition.

 

In the early part of the 1980s, Srinivasan, Wynne and Blum discovered that such a laser could irradiate animal tissue with great precision without causing damage to the surrounding tissue. Srinivasan and Wynne then tested the procedure on human tissue. Finally, in 1983, Rangaswamy Srinivasan, along with co-workers Bodil Braren and Stephen Trokel, published a paper in American Journal of Ophthalmology on the potential benefits of this laser for corrective eye surgery.

 

Source:

http://eyewiretoday.com/view.asp?r=retinatoday&a=20130103-national_academy_of_engineering_to_honor_creators_of_laser_refractive_eye_surgery