The ideal way to deal with a disease like age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is to prevent it from causing vision loss in the first place. For example, Dr. Barbel Rohrer is developing a Foundation-funded drug that slows retinal degeneration, and resulting vision loss, by bolstering the energy supply of cells in the retina.
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Archive for the Pharmaceuticals Category
Last weekend, I had the privilege of presenting at the third annual Usher Syndrome Family Conference in St. Louis. And while updating the attendees on the latest research was fulfilling, listening to the parents’ panel talk about how Usher syndrome has affected their families was quite moving.
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Video Included:
Now that VISIONS 2012 is over, we’re sharing with the world what attendees witnessed at the conference’s awards dinner Saturday night – an unveiling of FFB’s new logo:
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The diameter of the human eye is only about an inch, but for people with retinal degenerations, it can seem like a million miles.
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When the VISIONS 2012 conference began yesterday, the Foundation’s Science Department’s intensive work had already begun. On Wednesday afternoon, we put 15 members of our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in a meeting room at the hotel under lock and key. For the next 24 hours, we gave them only bread and water, forbidding access to friends and loved ones, and, perhaps most Draconian, we cut off their wi-fi access.
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VISIONS 2012, the Foundation’s annual conference, taking place in Minneapolis, is only two weeks away. I am very much looking forward to all the science presentations, especially the closing session on Sunday, July 1 — not only because I will moderate, but because it will cover three promising clinical trials, as well the exciting prospect of someday combining therapies.
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Today, most people who develop wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can retain much of their vision thanks to the advent of three treatment options, all administered through repeated ocular injections.
Keirnan Willett
The Foundation Fighting Blindness isn’t exactly like American Idol, but we are always in search of good research talent. That’s because we need to attract young physicians to retinal research to conduct the growing number of clinical trials for promising treatments and cures.
To get a sight-saving treatment or therapy to the commercial market in the United States, you need three basic things: 1) scientists to discover and develop it; 2) money to support the research; and 3) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing approval. While it may not seem obvious, the FDA ultimately drives everything — the researchers and the money. That’s because without FDA approval, you have no treatment, even if you have great research and adequate funding.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve heard a lot about clinical trials. They’re the last series of steps in the testing process that potential treatments – whether drug, gene therapy or stem-cell – must go through before they can be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. Clinical trials are experiments, and you can’t conduct a sound experiment without the right subjects – in this case, human beings. Continue Reading…
Steve is highly respected for his expertise and tireless commitment to finding treatments and cures for vision-robbing retinal diseases. 
As the Foundation's senior science writer, Ben writes science and research articles for the Foundation’s website, newsletters and Eye on the Cure blog. 
As the Foundation's senior writer, Rich writes and edits content for all of the Foundation’s print and online publications, including its blog, Eye on the Cure. 