Few preschoolers have their eyesight thoroughly checked, although up to 20% have some eye problem that, if uncorrected, could delay learning or even cause permanent vision loss.
New guidelines are urging pediatricians and health workers to better screen children under 5 for lazy eye and other disorders — even as a major study of preschoolers' vision shows many of those screening tests are far from perfect.

It's part of a growing debate over whether all youngsters should see an eye doctor before starting school, or whether improving routine vision screening could spot more tots who need help.

"It's a very touchy topic," says Dr. Susan Taub, a Northwestern University ophthalmologist who chairs the Better Vision Institute. "The key message is kids are getting lost in the system the way it exists."

Until the controversy's settled, she advises parents to watch for warning signs, even when playing peek-a-boo with babies, to help ensure their children's eye problems aren't missed.

Read the whole article at USA Today: New guidelines urge better vision tests for preschoolers

Results from Research in Victoria, Australia Give New Hope to People Suffering from Diseases that Are Major Causes of Blindness

A drug developed by Melbourne-based biotech company, Antisense Therapeutics, has shown animal studies that it decreases levels of a hormone associated with diabetic retinopathy and wet age-related macular degeneration - two diseases that affect the eyesight of millions of people, and which currently have no effective drug treatments. The results from animal testing also confirmed the drug's potential as a treatment for acromegaly, a growth hormone disorder Antisense Therapeutics will be presenting on these results, and other key aspects of its business at the Business Forum at BIO2004, the world's biggest biotech conference, San Francisco June 6-9.

With an aging population and increasing prevalence of diabetes Australia can expect a surge in the incidence of blindness. Two of the major causes of blindness are diabetic retinopathy and wet-age related macular degeneration.

Of the estimated 940,000 Australians (around 1 in 13) who have diabetes all are at risk of vision loss or blindness and ten per cent will develop a vision threatening condition. More than 18 million people in the US have diabetes and each year about 12-24,000 Americans lose their sight because of diabetes retinopathy. Patients with Type I diabetes who have had their disease for more than ten years have a 90 per cent chance of developing retinopathy, and about 20 per cent of patients with Type II diabetes will get the disease. Wet age-related macular degeneration affects between 1.2 million and 1.65 million Americans.

Read the whole article at Yahoo News: New Drug Offers Hope for People With Two of the Most Common and Debilitating Eye Diseases

ISTA begins full-scale commercial operations in preparation for ISTALOL(TM) launch

ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISTA - News) today announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration ("FDA") has approved the New Drug Application ("NDA") for ISTALOL(TM), a once- a-day liquid formulation of timolol, for the treatment of glaucoma.

Thomas K. Mundorf, M.D., a leading ophthalmologist and a clinical investigator for the U.S. ISTALOL(TM) clinical studies, commented, "Because glaucoma is a serious, chronic disease that must be treated for life, it is important to offer patients alternatives in their treatment regimen. ISTALOL(TM) gives patients an effective, therapeutic option with the convenience of a once-daily formulation. I believe that this is an advance that patients and their caregivers will greatly appreciate."

ISTALOL(TM) is ISTA's second product approved by the FDA. In May, ISTA announced FDA approval of ISTA's NDA for Vitrase® (hyaluronidase for injection; lyophilized, ovine) for use as a spreading agent to facilitate the dispersion and absorption of other drugs.

Read the whole article at Yahoo News: ISTA Pharmaceuticals Receives FDA Approval for ISTALOL(TM) for the Treatment of Glaucoma