Allergan Makes an Eye-Opening Acquisition

ByConnor Hodde

Global pharmaceutical company Allergan (NYSE:AGN) may have just revealed its plans for the future.  On Aug. 11, the company announced its plan to acquire ForSight Vision5, a privately held biotech.  Allergan will pay $95 million up front and will also pay a milestone payment next year if ForSight’s innovative glaucoma treatment device makes it through the FDA gauntlet and is successfully launched.  The market for glaucoma treatment is growing rapidly due to the aging global population and the rising incidence of eye disease. By 2020, glaucoma is expected to afflict more than 80 million people.  In the U.S. alone, it is estimated that over 3 million people have glaucoma.

Read the entire article here.

Similar Posts

Gene-based agents for the treatment of congenital eye diseases

ByConnor Hodde

Pharmacologists at LMU have developed gene-based agents for the treatment of congenital eye diseases. The first of these is now undergoing a phase-I clinical trial in color-blind patients at the University Medical Center in Tübingen. Is this approach translatable in principle to other visual disorders? Michalakis: About 200 genes have been identified which, when mutated,…

Designer Leptin Receptor Antagonist Allo-aca Inhibits VEGF Effects in Ophthalmic Neoangiogenesis Models

ByConnor Hodde

Experimental and clinical data suggest that pro-angiogenic, pro-inflammatory and mitogenic cytokine leptin can be implicated in ocular neovascularization and the other eye pathologies.  At least in part, leptin action appears to be mediated through functional interplay with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).  The effects of VEGF on leptin expression were assessed in ocular endothelial cell…

Serum retinol-binding protein-induced endothelial inflammation is mediated through the activation of toll-like receptor 4

ByConnor Hodde

“Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) is a novel adipokine (adipose-derived cytokine) that is clinically associated with obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and cardiovascular disease. In addition, patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (DR) have increased serum RBP4 levels compared to diabetic patients with mild or no retinopathy, which raises the possibility that RBP4 is somehow…

Data Monitoring Committee Recommends Continuation of APOLLO Phase 3 Clinical Trial of Patisiran for Hereditary ATTR Amyloidosis with Polyneuropathy (hATTR-PN)

ByConnor Hodde

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that the Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) for the Phase 3 APOLLO study of patisiran in patients with hereditary ATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy (hATTR-PN) met on October 7, 2016 and recommended continuation of the trial without modification. Read the entire article here.

Magnetic stimulation as retinal treatment

ByConnor Hodde

Brainsway Ltd. has announced interim results from an animal study being conducted at the Sheba Medical Center to explore the effects of the company’s transcranial magnetic stimulation device on age-related macular degeneration. A short-lasting improvement in the retina’s response to light was observed following this stage of the study, with the rats who received the magnetic…

Scientists Develop Animal Model for TB-Related Blindness

ByConnor Hodde

Tuberculosis experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have closely mimicked how active but untreated cases of the underlying lung infection lead to permanent eye damage and blindness in people.Lead study investigator and Johns Hopkins infectious disease specialist Petros Karakousis, M.D., says the new animal model should hasten development of a badly needed, early diagnostic test…