macular degeneration, macular, diagnosis “Feed Me!” – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

“Feed Me!”

We are having another dreary day. These days always manage to give me that napsy feeling. They also make me want to eat! Ugh.

I do much better when life is fast-paced and I am forced to follow along. If you want something done, ask the busy person.

So maybe if I want to get something done, I should force myself to be busy??? A bit of perverse logic there. Oh well….

I spent a few minutes today looking for new information on lampalizumab. There was nothing except business articles talking about the billions of US dollars Hoffman-LaRoche had been counting on before the phase 3 study failed to show a significant effect for the drug. I guess we need to wait for the research report to actually find out what went wrong. Everything out there now is all doom and gloom and speculation about what will happen to Hoffman-LaRoche stock.

I believe we talked about phase 3 of experiments like this. Phase 3 is a larger “proof of concept” phase. CenterWatch says 70 to 90% of drugs pass phase 3. Apparently most of the work is done in phases 1 and 2. With a statistic like that, now I am REALLY curious to find out what went wrong.

But, never fear, unlike Hoffman-LaRoche, we have not put all of our proverbial eggs in one basket! The article I was referring to in the page Recent Advances in AMD goes on to list quite a few different lines of research. In addition to research into anti-inflammatory therapies they are also experimenting with protective factors for the retina. Then add to those the experimental therapies that inhibit the visual cycle.

No, I am not exactly sure what that is either. My impression is it involves slowing the metabolism of the retina to cut down on drusen aka ‘eye poop’. Less eye poop to get between Bruch’s Membrane and the RPEs, the longer you will have usable vision. Sort of sounds like the low fiber dog food they marketed years ago. Low fiber was supposed to equal fewer ‘landmines’ in the yard. I don’t think that was good for puppies and I am not sure if slowing eye metabolism is good for eyes, but they are the experts so who knows?

Based on the theory neovascularization is caused by under-oxygenated, under-fed retinal cells screaming “Feed me!” like Audrey 2 in Little Shop of Horrors, they are also trying to increase the supplies to the choroid before the retinal ‘natives’ get restless.

MC-1101/MacuCLEAR is a vasodilator that has come through phase 1 testing and is ready for phase 2. That is a topical. They have tried several, other vasodilators with no or mixed results. One of the other ones they have tested is Viagra. However, Viagra did not help eyes at all! Sorry about that. (There goes that excuse for getting the script!?)

Of course, the last course of investigation mentioned is stem cells. I think this may be where I came in. And I know it is where I am going out right now! Chat at ya later!

written September 10th, 2017

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