Month: May 2013

The Advanstar Eye Health Group announces a new publication launching in March 2009, serving over 33,000 U.S. and Canadian optometrists. Optometry Times will offer optometrists a professional news source focused on clinical, dispensing, practice management, and subspecialty-based findings.Optometry Times will be distributed in both print and digital formats to facilitate total office and global dissemination to optometric professionals at all levels, from students to optometrists.

“Through our presence in the eyecare market, interaction with our customers, and extensive research, it became apparent there is an inherent need for a superior professional news source for the optometric community,” said Lauri Jorgensen, publisher of The Advanstar Eye Health Group. “The Advanstar Eye Health Group is uniquely positioned to serve this specialty market, as we currently publish leading ophthalmic titles (Ophthalmology Times, Ophthalmology Times Europe, and Ophthalmology Times America Latina), Web sites, e-newsletters, podcasts, and other custom programs and products geared specifically towards the optomeric profession.”

“Optometry Times will meet a market need by reporting on major optometric news, events, developments, and industry trends in a structured and timely manner,” said Mark Dlugoss, group editor of The Advanstar Eye Health Group.

About the Advanstar Eye Health Group

The Advanstar Eye Health Group is comprised of Ophthalmology Times, Optometry Times –powered by ModernMedicine–Ophthalmology Times Europe, and Ophthalmology Times America Latina. Together these brands provide the ultimate source for complete coverage of the eyecare market; providing ophthalmologists, optometrists, and their staffs with in-depth content on clinical, dispensing, practice management, and subspecialty-based findings in their respective disciplines.

About Advanstar Communications Inc.

Advanstar Communications Inc. is a leading worldwide media company providing integrated marketing solutions for the Fashion, Life Sciences, and Powersports industries. Advanstar serves business professionals and consumers through 87 events, 58 publications and directories, 125 electronic publications and Web sites, as well as educational and direct marketing products and services. Market-leading brands and a commitment to delivering innovative, quality products and services enables Advanstar to “Connect Our Customers With Theirs.” Advanstar has 1,000 employees and operates from multiple offices in North America and Europe.

Source

Maggie Grande
Advanstar Communications, Inc.

The Managing Director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia, Prof Hugh Taylor AC, has been awarded the 2006 Mectizan Award, in recognition of his contributions and sustained dedication to the fight against onchocerciasis.

Prof Taylor is the first Australian recipient of the Award, announced at the Mectizan Expert Committee / Albendazole Coordination meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. The award was announced by the Mectizan Expert Committee on behalf of the Merck Mectizan Donation Program.

Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, is the world’s second leading infectious cause of blindness. It is estimated about 18 million people are effected, mostly in Africa and south-America.

“I am grateful for this award in recognition of my contribution together with medical research partners in the field, in the past 30 years,” Prof Taylor said.

The Centre for Eye Research Australia works toward the elimination of preventable vision loss and blindness – researching the causes, treatment and prevention of eye diseases.

The Mectizan Donation Program was established in 1988 to provide medical, technical and administrative oversight of the donation of Mectizan by Merck & Co., Inc. for the treatment of onchocerciasis.

Contact: Stephen D’Arcy

Research Australia

In recognition of its groundbreaking work to prevent debilitating blindness and provide affordable, world-class eye care to the poor, the Aravind Eye Care System, based in Tamil Nadu, India, has won the 2008 Gates Award for Global Health. The $1 million Gates Award – the world’s largest prize for international health – honors extraordinary efforts to improve health in developing countries.

Founded by Dr. G. Venkataswamy in 1976, Aravind has saved millions of people in India from debilitating blindness. Cataracts account for more than half the cases of blindness in India. In the past year, Aravind provided out-patient care to approximately 2.4 million patients and performed more than 280,000 surgeries. Thanks in part to Aravind’s efforts, the estimated number of blind people in India fell from 8.9 million in 1990 to 6.7 million in 2002, a decline of 25%.

William H. Gates Sr., co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will present the award on May 29 at the Global Health Council’s 35th Annual International Conference in Washington, DC.

“Being blind in a rural village in the developing world leaves a person in darkness and dependence, often unable to earn a living or assist in the duties of their household,” said Mr. Gates. “Aravind has given sight to millions of men, women, and children, enabling them to participate fully in the lives of their families and communities.”

Since 1976, Aravind has grown from a rented house with 11 beds to a thriving network of hospitals and satellite clinics that provide eye exams and surgeries, train health care professionals, conduct research, and manufacture eye care products.

Outreach teams from Aravind hospitals coordinate with local leaders and service groups across India to organize “eye camps” that provide free exams. Since 2004, Aravind has used high-speed broadband access to link these camps directly to on-call doctors in central hospitals. The doctors can diagnose and refer patients in real time, ensuring that only those who require surgery make the journey to the hospital.

“All people have a right to sight,” said Dr. Perumalsamy Namperumalsamy, chairman of Aravind. “We hope that this award will encourage others to develop creative, sustainable solutions to blindness and other global health challenges.”

Aravind’s innovative business model enables it to provide the same high-quality care to every patient, regardless of their ability to pay, without charitable contributions. The organization enlists local businesses to sponsor eye care hospitals, and subsidizes care for the poor through fees from paying patients and global sales of eye care products.

“Ensuring that the world’s poorest people can access essential health care is an ongoing challenge in global health,” said Dr. Nils Daulaire, president of the Global Health Council. “Aravind has demonstrated that there are ways to do good and commit to providing the highest quality services while utilizing the latest technologies and scientific advances.”

About the Gates Award for Global Health

The Gates Award for Global Health was established by Bill and Melinda Gates in 2000 to recognize exemplary work in international health. The Global Health Council coordinates the selection process for and presentation of the Gates Award at its Annual International Conference.

Previous recipients of the Gates Award include Thailand’s Population and Community Development Association for its innovative work in family planning and HIV prevention (2007); the Carter Center, for its pioneering work to fight neglected diseases (2006); the African Medical and Research Foundation, for improving health in some of Africa’s poorest communities (2005); the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, for community-based health programs (2004); the Brazilian National AIDS Program, for its integrated approach to HIV prevention and treatment (2003); the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, for contributions to polio eradication (2002); and the ICDDR,B Center for Health and Population Research, for the discovery of a diarrhea therapy that has saved millions of lives (2001). gatesfoundation/GlobalHealth/RelatedInfo/GatesAward/default.htm

Avarind Eye Care System

Long-term, regular use of vitamins E and C has no apparent effect on the risk of age-related cataract in men, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

“An estimated 20.5 million persons 40 years and older in the United States show some evidence of age-related cataract,” the authors write as background information in the article. “Because oxidative damage is a prominent feature of cataracts, one focus of nutrition research has been the link between dietary intake of nutrients with antioxidant potential, particularly vitamins E and C, and the risk of cataract.”

To evaluate the effects of vitamin E and vitamin C on cataracts, William G. Christen, Sc.D., from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues studied 11,545 apparently healthy U.S. male physicians 50 years and older. Men were randomly assigned to receive vitamin E or placebo and vitamin C or placebo. Those in the vitamin E group received 400 international units (IU) of vitamin E daily or placebo and those in vitamin C group received 500 milligrams of vitamin C on alternate days or placebo. After an average of eight years of treatment and follow-up, 1,174 cataracts and 801 cataract extractions (surgery to remove cataract and repair the eye lens) were confirmed.

There were 579 cataracts in the vitamin E treatment group and 595 cataracts in the placebo group. Analyses of the effects of vitamin E on cataract subtypes indicated no significant effects of the treatment on nuclear, cortical or posterior subcapsular cataract. The authors determined that “there was no apparent benefit of vitamin E at any point during the trial.”

In the vitamin C segment, there were 593 cataracts in the group receiving treatment and 581 in the placebo group. Similar non-significant findings were observed for each of the three cataract subtypes. Additionally, the authors found that “the effect of vitamin C on cataract and extraction [removal] did not differ appreciably within categories of known or possible risk factors, other than a possible, but statistically non-significant trend toward increased risk in those with a reported history of cardiovascular disease.”

“In summary, these randomized trial data from a large population of middle-aged and older, generally well-nourished men indicate that long-term supplementation with high-dose vitamin E and vitamin C, either alone or in combination, has little effect on rates of cataract diagnosis and extraction.”

(Arch Ophthalmol. 2010;128[11]:1397-1405.)

Source:

Archives of Ophthalmology

The Assisted Reproduction Unit at the Quir’n Hospital in Donostia-San Sebastian has managed, for the first time in the Basque Country, to successfully carry out an embryonic sex selection in a woman who is a carrier of the disease Retinosis Pigmentaria, linked with the X chromosome – in order to avoid giving birth to a male child.

Retinosis Pigmentaria is a hereditary illness of the eyes of a degenerative nature. It causes a serious reduction in visual capacity and, in many cases, leads to blindness. The ailment does not affect males and females equally: in the case of men, there is a 50% probability of suffering the disease. With women, however, they born healthy, but there is a 50% probability of being carriers.

The embryonic selection of sex is the only recourse open in order to avoid male children suffering from the disease with the consequent possibility of going blind. This is because, in order to select healthy embryos in a manner that does not involve sex selection, it would be essential to know the exact mutation in the chromosome, something which has not been achieved in this particular case.

This embryonic selection enables the prevention of the transmission of this disease to future generations and may be a way to reduce the number of victims of Retinosis Pigmentaria. In Spain the number of sufferers is over 15,000, with some 60,000 being carriers of the defective gene and, thereby, possible transmitters of the condition.

Contact: Egoitz Etxebeste

Elhuyar Fundazioa

The team found that a bacterium inside the worm acts as a ‘disguise’ for the parasite, resulting in the immune system reacting to it in an ineffective way. The bacteria protect the worm from the body’s natural defences, but once the bacteria are removed with antibiotics, the immune system responds appropriately, releasing cells, called eosinophils, that kill the worm.

Antibiotics are successful against the parasite, but the long treatment regime means that it has limited use across whole communities. These new findings suggest that if medics could prime the immune system to recognise the worm, a shorter duration of antibiotic treatment may be sufficient to overcome its bacterial defences.

River Blindness is caused by black flies that breed in rivers and deposit the larvae of a worm into the person they bite. The infection leads to severe itching of the skin and lesions of the eye which can result in blindness. It affects millions of people in developing countries, particularly in West and Central Africa. A closely related parasite also infects cattle, which causes lumps to appear on the animal’s skin but does not cause blindness or other illness.

Dr Ben Makepeace, from the University’s Institute of Infection and Global Health, explains: “Our team has already shown that removing the bacteria with antibiotics results in the death of the worm, but until now we were unaware of how the bacteria protected the parasite in the first instance. Antibiotics can rid the parasite of the bacteria, allowing the immune system to respond properly, but it is a long treatment process, lasting up to six weeks.

“Now we can begin to look for a way to ‘prime’ the body into reacting to the parasite more efficiently. Currently there is no vaccine for River Blindness, but if a candidate could be identified this may help boost the immune system ahead of antibiotic treatment and reduce the length of time patients have to take the drug. It is essential that whole communities are cured of the infection and the more we know about the mechanisms the parasite uses to survive in the body, the further we can progress with finding a practical treatment that kills adults worms and not just the larval stages”

The research is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Pfizer Animal Health, and the European Commission. It is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Source:
Samantha Martin
University of Liverpool

On this, the first World Glaucoma Day on Thursday 6 March, a team of researchers will reveal an exciting new development in the detection of glaucoma to a group of MPs in the House of Commons.

Detecting glaucoma during a standard sight test can be problematic. The new Moorfields Motion Displacement Test (MDT) is reaching the final stages of development. It utilises a unique software programme to investigate the visual field (peripheral vision), one of three recommended assessments used in the diagnosis of glaucoma.

Glaucoma is the most common cause of preventable blindness. It is estimated there are 67 million glaucoma sufferers in the world, but over 50% of these are undiagnosed. This rises to 90% in the developing world.

In the UK, around 500,000 people are affected and half of these are not receiving treatment because they are unaware they have the disease, symptoms of which are not present in the early stages. The aim of this new test is to help tackle the challenge of early global glaucoma detection.

Designed to be effective, affordable and accessible to all, the Moorfields MDT software, which is in the final stages of development, will be run on a standard PC or laptop. Eventually, it is hoped that it will also be made available to download from the internet, enabling clinicians from all over the world, including those in developing countries, to use it as part of their glaucoma screening systems.

The new MDT screening technology, whose research and development was supported by Pfizer Ltd, is the result of a nine year partnership between researchers from Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, and a recent new collaboration with the Department of Optometry and Visual Science, City University London.

Ted Garway-Heath, Consultant Ophthalmologist, Moorfields Eye Hospital, commented, “The Moorfields MDT is a prime example of how universities and hospitals can work together to bring technological innovations to patients. This test will help us identify patients at greatest risk of glaucoma, provide better treatments for glaucoma and also monitoring for patients throughout the course of their disease.”

If you would like to interview either a consultant about glaucoma, or a member of the Moorfields MDT research team IN ADVANCE of the event on Thursday 6th March, or would like access to B roll footage of the technology in use, with comments from members of the research team, please contact here.

World Glaucoma Day is a joint initiative by the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) and World Glaucoma Patient Association (WGPA) designed to promote awareness of eye health and the importance of regular eye examinations to reduce the onset of glaucoma.

House Of Commons Event In Collaboration With:

International Glaucoma Association
RNIB

World Glaucoma Day

An amusing story was covered in the press this week about how an application pack for a job as an air traffic controller was available in braille. Some view it as political correctness taken too far but it appears people have missed the point. Blind and partially sighted people have the right to read the same information as sighted people. And this includes application forms – regardless of whether they are qualified for the job.

Two out of three people with sight problems in the UK are currently jobless. One of the most significant barriers is potential employers failing to provide application forms in formats they can read. This is as good as guaranteeing that the applicant doesn’t get an interview.

The Isles of Scilly’s Council – the employer in the infamous air traffic controller advert – were following equal opportunities best practice. This is standard practice and RNIB would hope more employers routinely do the same and provide accessible application forms in formats that include; large print, braille, audio and via email.

People with sight loss succeed in a wide variety of jobs and in almost all employment sectors. So instead of joking about braille application forms we should be making it our business to shape the employment prospects for blind and partially sighted people.

Positive developments in voice technology, accessible information and disability discrimination law, should help increase equal opportunities.

rnib

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of vision loss in older adults and a person’s risk may partly depend upon diet. When it comes to carbohydrates, quality rather than quantity may be more important, according to new research by Allen Taylor, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University, and colleagues. Their findings were reported in the April 2006 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Taylor and colleagues analyzed data from a sub-group of participants in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) who were enrolled in the Nutrition and Vision Program. The researchers looked at the total amount of carbohydrates consumed over 10 years and the dietary glycemic index, which is a measure of the quality of overall dietary carbohydrate.

“Women who consumed diets with a relatively high dietary glycemic index had greater risk of developing signs of early age-related macular degeneration when compared with women who consumed diets with a lower dietary glycemic index,” says lead author Chung-Jung Chiu, DDS, PhD, scientist in the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the HNRCA and an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. High total carbohydrate intake, however, did not significantly increase the risk factor for AMD.

“In other words, the types of carbohydrates being consumed were more important than the absolute amount,” explains Taylor, senior author. A high-glycemic-index diet is one that is rich in high-glycemic-index foods, which are converted more rapidly to blood sugar in the body than are low-glycemic-index foods.

Chiu, Taylor, and colleagues examined the eyes of more than 500 women between 53 and 73 years of age, looking for changes indicative of early AMD. The researchers also analyzed the participants’ diets, as reported in questionnaires that had been administered periodically over the course of 10 years preceding their eye exams.

“Dietary glycemic index may be an independent and modifiable risk factor for early AMD,” concludes Taylor, who is also a nutrition, ophthalmology and biochemistry professor on the Tufts health sciences campus in Boston. “The likelihood of having abnormalities characteristic of AMD on eye exam more than doubled for women who consumed diets with the highest glycemic index, regardless of other factors already known or suspected to increase the risk of AMD, such as age, high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and obesity.”

AMD primarily and irreversibly affects central vision, which is critical for many activities, such as reading and driving. The disease is caused by the gradual breakdown of light-sensitive cells in the region of the eye’s retina called the macula. It is estimated that 1.75 million Americans 40 years of age and older have some manifestation of AMD.

Prior to the current study, the association between AMD and dietary carbohydrate had not been evaluated. “We are interested in studying the role of glucose in age-related diseases like AMD,” Taylor says, “because evidence suggests that problems with glucose metabolism, as in diabetes, may cause damaging by-products to accumulate in sensitive tissues and contribute to disease.”

“We cannot say, based on these data, whether or not consuming a diet with a high glycemic index causes AMD,” says Taylor. He points out that there are other possible explanations for the relationship he and his colleagues observed. “Perhaps a high-glycemic-index diet is a marker for an overall dietary or lifestyle pattern that increases the risk of developing AMD.” A diet high in high-glycemic-index foods like white bread and french fries has a higher overall glycemic index than a diet based more heavily on low-glycemic-index foods, such as lentils and yams.

Taylor is cautious in his interpretation of this data, but he believes that further research is critical, as it may ultimately prove helpful in preventing or delaying the onset of such potentially debilitating and costly diseases.

Siobhan Gallagher
Tufts University
tufts.edu/

ISTA
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISTA), announced positive results from
the preliminary analysis of its second and final Bepreve(TM) (bepotastine
ophthalmic solution) Phase III clinical study. The U.S. multi-center
conjunctival allergen challenge (CAC) study evaluated the onset and
duration of effect of two Bepreve concentrations in 130 patients with a
history of ocular allergies. Both concentrations demonstrated highly
statistically significant reductions in the primary study endpoint of
ocular itching. In addition, both concentrations produced highly
statistically significant effects on the rapidity of response and in the
secondary endpoints measuring additional signs and symptoms of ocular
allergy, as well as improvement in total nasal symptoms. There were no
serious ocular adverse events reported in patients dosed with Bepreve.

The Phase III study was a multi-center, double-masked,
placebo-controlled study. It was designed to evaluate the onset and
duration of effect of Bepreve in two concentrations and in two dosing
schedules, once-daily and twice-daily. Of the 130 patients enrolled, 117
completed the study. Patients were randomized 1:1:1 to receive one of two
concentrations of Bepreve. They were evaluated on 3 separate visits for
their response to the dose administered, which would allow for the
determination of the time to onset, response at 8 hours and at 16 hours.
Both statistical significance and degree of clinical response, were
measured. The strongest clinical effect achieved was with twice-daily
dosing of either concentration. Further, the higher concentration of
Bepreve demonstrated a once-daily clinical effect that was comparable to
the published literature for FDA-approved once-daily ophthalmic solutions
studied in patients with ocular allergies.

The data announced today mirror the results from the 107-patient,
single- center Phase III Bepreve study, announced May 8, 2007, which used
the same study design. ISTA currently is analyzing the results of an ocular
safety study in approximately 850 patients, with preliminary results
anticipated before the end of the second quarter of 2008. Once the Company
completes its analysis of the full dataset, ISTA expects to file a New Drug
Application (NDA) with the FDA during the second half of 2008. ISTA plans
to discuss the study results with the FDA to determine what, if any,
additional information would be required in order to obtain approval for
both a once-daily and twice- daily form of Bepreve.

About Bepreve(TM) (bepotastine ophthalmic solution)

Bepreve has three primary mechanisms of action: it is a non-sedating,
highly selective antagonist of the histamine 1 (H1) receptor, it has a
stabilizing effect on mast cells, and it suppresses the migration of
eosinophils into inflamed tissues. The compound’s primary mechanisms of
action are believed to make it an effective treatment against the signs and
symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis.

Bepotastine was approved in Japan for use as a systemic drug in the
treatment of allergic rhinitis and urticaria/pruritus in July 2000 and
January 2002, respectively, and is marketed by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma
Corporation (formerly Tanabe Seiyaku Co., Ltd.) under the brand name
TALION(R). TALION was co-developed by Tanabe Seiyaku and Ube Industries,
Ltd., who discovered bepotastine. In 2001, Tanabe Seiyaku granted Senju
Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., exclusive worldwide rights, with the exception of
certain Asian countries, to develop, manufacture, and market bepotastine
for ophthalmic use. In 2006, ISTA licensed from Senju the exclusive North
American rights to an eye drop formulation of bepotastine for the treatment
of allergic conjunctivitis.

About ISTA Pharmaceuticals

ISTA Pharmaceuticals is an ophthalmic pharmaceutical company. ISTA’s
products and product candidates addressing the $4.7 billion U.S.
prescription ophthalmic industry include therapies for inflammation, ocular
pain, glaucoma, allergy, and dry eye. The Company currently markets three
products and is developing a strong product pipeline to fuel future growth
and market share. The Company’s product development and commercialization
strategy is to launch a new product every 12 to 18 months, thereby
continuing its growth to become the leading niche ophthalmic pharmaceutical
company in the U.S. For additional information regarding ISTA, please visit
ISTA Pharmaceuticals’ website at istavision.

Any statements contained in this press release that refer to future
events or other non-historical matters are forward-looking statements.
Without limiting the foregoing, but by way of example, statements contained
in this press release related to bringing a new product to market every 12
to 18 months, completing the preliminary analysis of the data from the
Bepreve ocular safety study in the second quarter of 2008, filing the
Bepreve NDA with the FDA in the second half of 2008, and becoming the
leading niche ophthalmic pharmaceutical company are forward-looking
statements. Except as required by law, ISTA disclaims any intent or
obligation to update any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements are based on ISTA’s expectations as of the date of this press
release and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially. Important factors that could cause actual
results to differ from current expectations include, among others: timely
and successful implementation of ISTA’s strategic initiatives; delays and
uncertainties related to ISTA’s research and development programs
(including the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of product
development efforts and the FDA or other regulatory agency approval or
actions); uncertainties and risks regarding market acceptance of and demand
for ISTA’s approved products and the impact of competitive products and
pricing; uncertainties and risks related to ISTA’s ability to properly
manage its growth; uncertainties and risks regarding the continued timely
performance by ISTA’s strategic partners of their respective obligations
under existing collaborations and licensing arrangements; uncertainties and
risks related to the continued availability of third party sourced products
and raw materials on commercially reasonable terms, or at all;
uncertainties and risks related to successful compliance with FDA and or
other governmental regulations applicable to ISTA’s facilities, products
and/or business; uncertainties and risks related to the scope, validity,
and enforceability of patents related to ISTA’s products and technologies
and the impact of patents and other intellectual property rights held by
third parties; and such other risks and uncertainties as detailed from time
to time in ISTA’s public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, including but not limited to ISTA’s Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2007.

ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
istavision

View drug information on Bepreve.