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Archive for the Pharmaceuticals Category

Tiny Implantable Telescope Can Restore Some Central Vision in AMD

Implantable Miniature TelescopeThe 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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Energized and Inspired by the Usher Syndrome Family Conference

VISIONS Guest and Tactile InterpreterLast 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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New Brand, Same Mission

Video Included:
Tom BernardinNow 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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Overcoming the Challenge of Getting Vision-Saving Treatments to the Retina

McGinnisThe 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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Which Research Projects Will Make the Cut?

Dr. Eric Pierce, chairman of the SAB, and Amy Laster, FFB's grants and awards program managerWhen 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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Could Combining Future Treatments Be an Option?

Image of test tubesVISIONS 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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One and Done: The Next Revolution in Treating Wet AMD

Doctor and PatientToday, 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.

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The Quest for Exceptional Talent

Dr. Keirnan Willett, CDA recipient

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.

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The FDA’s Indispensible Role (a guest blog from Dr. Patricia Zilliox)

Pill bottle with pills spilling outTo 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.

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The Maestro

Dr. David BirchIf 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…