Alcon has announced that it will purchase the rights in the United States for two FDA-approved topical eye care products from Sirion Therapeutics, Inc. The two products purchased are Durezol™, a marketed ophthalmic corticosteroid approved for the treatment of inflammation and pain associated with eye surgery, and Zirgan™, a recently approved antiviral for the treatment of acute herpetic keratitis (corneal ulcers).

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A new predictor of cornea transplant success has been identified by the Cornea Donor Study (CDS) Investigator Group. New analysis of data from the 2008 Specular Microscopy Ancillary Study, found that the preoperative donor cell count of endothelial cells, did not correlate with graft success. Instead the study found that a patient’s endothelial cell count six months post-cornea transplant is a better indicator of subsequent failure of the graft rather than the donor’s cell count.

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During the 5th International Congress of Corneal Cross Linking for Keratoconus in Germany, Avedro presented encouraging clinical results for treating keratoconus, a progressive disease of the cornea of the eye. The procedure, known as Keraflex® KXL, is non-incisional and reshapes the cornea without removing any tissue. Keratoconus, or KC, is a cone-shaped protrusion and distortion of the cornea that typically begins in the teenage years or 20’s and afflicts millions of people around the world.

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Use of hydrogen peroxide solution was associated with the lowest incidence of corneal infiltration among daily hydrogel contact lens wearers, according to a study published in Arch Ophthalmol. The study included 558 patients with myopia who participated in one or more of about 40 trials for 20 hydrogel contact lens and lens solution combinations. Patient assessments were conducted at baseline, 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months. Data included 840 lens-solution combinations and 2,271 participant-months.

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Paradigm Medical Industries, Inc. announced that it introduced two new products at the annual American Academy of Ophthalmology Meeting in San Francisco. The new products consisted of the Paravue 300, a corneal topographer, and the Surveyor 500, a fully capable corneal topographer with a Scheimpflug technology rotating camera for the measurement of interior ocular structures in the anterior segment.

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According to a study conducted at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., has found that laser eye surgery that corrects vision does not lead to later problems with the cornea – at least not after nine years . Two types of laser surgery—photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK)—are often used to correct refractive errors such as nearsightedness.

The pharmaceutical company ISTA Pharmaceuticals won unanimous support from the FDA committee for the approval of Bepreve eye drops for the treatment of itchy eyes. The eye drops are designed to treat patients aged 2 years and more with itchy eyes due to allergies. The vote by the FDA was 7-0 as it believed that ISTA had proved the effectiveness and safety of Berpreve and the eye medication will be sold by prescription only.

Akorn, Inc. has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for Akorn’s Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Ciprofloxacin HCl Ophthalmic Solution USP, 0.3%. Ciprofloxacin HCl Ophthalmic Solution is indicated for the treatment of infections caused by microorganisms in corneal ulcers and conjunctivitis. Annual sales for Ciprofloxacin HCl Ophthalmic Solution are approximately $20 million, according to IMS sales data. Akorn expects to launch Ciprofloxacin in 2009. Of the 20 product approvals received in 2008, 8 were launched in 2008 and 10 are scheduled for launch in the first half of 2009.

Researchers from Emory University in Atlanta have developed a new treatment for corneal disease called Keratoconus. This special procedure stabilizes the cornea, while reversing some of the other permanent changes in the integrity and curvature. The treatment called Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking includes few steps. Firstly, patients are given a topical anesthetic to avoid discomfort during the treatment. Removal of a thin layer of cells from the top of the cornea follows. Then, riboflavin drops are placed into the eye. This saturates the cornea for half an hour. After that, the eye is exposed to Ultra Violet A light for 30 more minutes. The UVA light interacts with the riboflavin to form chemical bonds between the collagen molecules in the cornea, stiffening it and helping it to retain a rounder shape. A soft contact lens is placed in the eye to protect the cornea. It is removed after three to five days. As the cornea heals and stiffens, the curvature gradually improves

Researchers are experimenting on a treatment for rare eye cancer, which has already saved some children from vision loss. The US researchers also succeeded in restoring vision in a few cases. The method involved inserting a catheter in the eye via the body so that the chemotherapy drug melphalan, made by GlaxoSmithKline under the name of Alkeran, was administered directly to the tumour.