Innovation Spotlight - Companies in the News

Lasik Vision Corp. to open four new centers in U.S.

Vancouver, BC-Lasik Vision Corp. is planning to open four new laser centers in the United States by the end of April. The clinics will be in Pasadena, CA; Garden City, NY; St. Louis; and Portland, OR.

The centers will offer PRK and LASIK using the VISX Star S2 excimer laser system.

Iridex begins transpupillary thermotherapy study

Mountain View, CA-Iridex Corp. has begun enrollment in a 20-center clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of therapy for patients with the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The study, "Transpupillary Thermotherapy (TTT) of Occult Subfoveal Choroidal Neovascular Membranes in Patients with AMD (TTT4CNV)," is a prospective, randomized, multicenter trial to determine the effectiveness of TTT in the treatment of occult CNV caused by AMD when compared with no treatment.

The protocol uses a low dose of infrared laser light, without adjunctive therapeutic drugs. The laser is the company's IRIS Medical OcuLight SLx infrared laser photocoagulator.

A retrospective pilot study performed by Elias Reichel, MD, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the New England Eye Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, reported successful reduction in fluid caused by AMD in 94% of treated eyes. The TTT4CNV protocol was based on protocols developed by Dr. Reichel during the pilot study.

Dr. Reichel will serve as study chairman and principal investigator. To be eligible for this study, a patient must be 50 years of age or older, have at least one eye with subfoveal occult CNV, and have visual acuity between 20/50 and 20/400. When study centers begin enrolling patients, they will be added to the list of enrolling centers on the company's Web site, www.irismedical.com/ TTT4CNVctrs/htm.

Patient follow-up is expected to take a minimum of 1 year.

Allergan has new therapy for conjunctivitis itch

Irvine, CA-Allergan has introduced a new fast-acting treatment for the itch associated with allergic conjunctivitis.
Alocril (nedocromil sodium ophthalmic solution 2%) was approved by the FDA in December.

The medication provides relief within 15 minutes and is effective throughout the period of exposure even without symptoms, according to the company.
Twice-a-day dosing for adults and children older than 3 years of age is recommended.

ColorMax creates soft form of color blindness lens

Tustin, CA-ColorMax Technologies Inc. has finalized plans to design and develop soft contact lenses that the company said will duplicate the benefits and performance of its recently introduced ColorMax Color Vision Enhancement Lenses, designed to aid in color-blindness.

The company has begun to design and build a polymer manufacturing laboratory and soft-lens production facility for the ColorMax Color Vision Enhancement Soft Contact Lenses.