New
Drug Reverses Type of Vision Loss
Edward
Bangs Kelley and Eliza Kelly Foundation Inc
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NEW DRUG REVERSES TYPE OF VISION LOSS Eyesight in some patients in clinical study met driving requirement. Eyesight sharpened so dramatically for some patients who took a new drug for age-related macular degeneration that they could theoretically meet the basic vision requirements for driving, researchers have announced. Patients were treated with an investigational drug named Lucentis, which is based on a principle that first captured the imagination of cancer researchers a decade age. That principal, anti-angiogenesis � blocking the growth of blood vessels � has now proved successful in the treatment of the so-called wet form of macular degeneration, scientists announced Monday in Montreal . People with the wet form of the disorder have abnormal blood-vessel growth within the inner back layer of the eye, a region known as the macula. When blood vessels leak, scarring occurs, which in turn leads to progressive vision loss. Current drugs can slow the progression, but Lucentis, an injected medication, actually improved eye sight, the first time a medication has forced age-related macular degeneration into retreat. �About 40 percent of patients treated with Lucentis achieved vision of 20/40 or better by month 12, and 20/40 is an important level of vision because someone can be able to drive�, said Dr. Joan Miller, a retina specialist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. Miller said Lucentis targets a protein involved in the biological processes that lead to abnormal blood vessel growth. Cancer drugs based on the same principle block blood vessels that feed tumors. In the study of 716 macular degeneration patients, those who received the drug were able to maintain their improved vision during the year-long treatment period. The average patient who received the drug could read an additional seven letters of a standard eye chart, Miller said. This compared with a vision loss of 10.5 letters among those patients who received sham injections. �These data are compelling because, for the first time, we have a potential treatment which has been shown to improve vision in a significant number of patients,� Miller said. The drug is a product of biotechnology giant Genentech Inc. of South San Francisco , Calif. Dawn Kalmar, a Genentech spokeswoman, said the company has put the medication on a fast track for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
Newsday, July 2005
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| Edward Bangs Kelley and Elza Kelley Foundation, Inc. Awards Grant to SIGHT LOSS Services, Inc. for Home Independence Program The Home Independence Program is a unique program that is designed to teach a visually impaired person to exist safely, productively, and independently within the home environment. It helps an individual to maintain a healthy level of self-esteem thus helping to improve the quality of life despite diminished vision. This is not the first time that the Kelley Foundation, an organization to enhance the health and welfare of the inhabitants of Barnstable County , has supported SIGHT LOSS Services in its endeavors to help the visually impaired. When SIGHT LOSS Services came into existence 25 years ago the Kelley Foundation gave seed money to get the agency started. In the interim years SIGHT LOSS has been the recipient of a few other grants for individual programs. SIGHT LOSS Services is forever grateful to receive this on-going support.
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