The system consists of a small photovoltaic chip (similar to a solar panel) that is surgically implanted beneath the retina, and specially designed goggles equipped with a microprocessor and miniature camera. The output of the camera is displayed on a miniature LCD screen, located on the inside surface of the goggles. The screen then beams the images displayed as pulses of infra-red laser light to to photodiodes on the chip implanted in the retina, which will then send those images to the brain.

As Dr. Palanker summed up the technology: “It works like the solar panels on your roof, converting light into electric current. But instead of the current flowing to your refrigerator, it flows into your retina.”

So far the technology has been tested in rats, but the team is looking for a sponsor for human trials.

The Stanford technology differs from other retinal prosthesis technologies such as the Argus™ II Retinal Prosthesis System offered by Second Sight in that those other technologies involve more in the way of hardware such as coils or antennas being implanted in the eye, while the technology used in the light-based Stanford system is primarily located in the goggles.

Click here and here to read more about this new technology.

There were slightly more adverse events in those patients using Avastin than Lucentis, but the study’s authors concluded that the differences were not specifically associated with the use of Avastin, but more likely due to the age of the subjects in the study – a median age of 80 years.

For more details, please see the complete writeup at the following link.

To read more, please follow this link.

Bascom Palmer, one of the country’s premier eye institutes, joins UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute and the Wills Eye Institute as the third U.S. site participating in the company’s Phase I/II clinical trials.

The Phase I/II trial is a prospective, open-label study designed to determine the safety and tolerability of the hESC-derived RPE cells following sub-retinal transplantation into patients with dry AMD. The trial will ultimately enroll 12 patients, with cohorts of three patients each in an ascending dosage format.

Click here to learn more about patient eligibility to participate in the trials.

To read more about the trials, please follow this link.

Dr. Rose, a renowned expert on retinal research, comments on the latest news, provides useful information in easy-to-understand language and connects readers with valuable resources, including those provided by the Foundation.

Founded in 1971, FFB has raised more than $450 million for research intended to eradicate retinal degenerations, such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, affecting more than 10 million Americans.

The company then announced that it had received authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a Phase I/II clinical trial of the company’s proprietary HuCNS-SCr product candidate (purified human neural stem cells) in dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common form of AMD.

We believe that at least one of the sites for the clinical trial will be the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health and Science University.

To read the complete story, please follow this link.

The results have been published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

To read the full story, please follow this link.

A new start-up company is looking into the possibility of certain compounds that appear to boost mitochondrial function to provide “energy” to “reduced capacity” mitochondria in retinal cells that are possibly at the root of retinal degenerations in such diseases as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration.

Two scientists, Drs. Rohrer and Beeson, of the Ophthalmology department at the Medical University of South Carolina have started a new company, MitoChem Therapeutics, that has just received $2 million from the Foundation Fighting Blindness to do just that. After screening a library of 50,000 drug compounds, they have apparently identified three compounds that appear to boost mitochondrial function, and will now attempt to identify which one will work best in people as an eye drop, and move it into a clinical trial.

To read more, please follow this link.

The study was led by Susanne Trauzettel-Klosinski, MD, from the Low Vision Clinic and Research Laboratory, Centre for Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen, Germany.

Historic data indicate that the prevalence of depressive symptoms among the visually impaired is as high as 42%, and that depression negatively affects the rehabilitation process because of concentration difficulty, cognitive decline, and loss of goal-oriented motivation.

In this randomized controlled study, 22 patients 65 to 85 years of age with AMD were randomized to either immediate intervention with low-vision aid training or to a 3-month wait before the initiation of rehabilitation (control group).

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of immediate low-vision rehabilitation on the occurrence of depressive symptoms in patients with AMD.

The results of the study showed that professional visual rehabilitation has positive effects on reducing depression in AMD patients.

Read more about the study on Medscape.

Here is how I commented about this breakthrough in my writeup:

“If this approach is successful, it could result in a “game change” in the way wet AMD is treated. Instead of multiple injections to gain control of neovascularization, one injection at the first signs of neovascularization could stop it dead in its tracks and the effect could last, potentially, for several years.

In addition, it is conceivable that patients at risk of developing wet AMD could receive a therapeutic injection of AVA-101 to prevent the occurrence of wet AMD. This would be a definite paradigm shift in the treatment of AMD.

With the human clinical testing now underway, we should have an indication of initial results with this unique approach within about a year.

Stay tuned!”

In a nutshell, Avalanche has developed a proprietary drug delivery system, known as Ocular BioFactoryTM, that continuously secretes a therapeutic protein over an extended period following a single subretinal injection, thus avoiding the need for frequent intraocular injections of recombinant anti-VEGF protein.

To read more about this potential “game changing” breakthrough in the future treatment of wet AMD, please follow this link.