This may end up as another chatty, hodge podge affair. There is really nothing major happening and in the world of progressive eye disease nothing major happening is a good thing!
So, actually, I guess that is my first offering here. Those of you who have recently received your diagnosis or have had a crisis and are really distressed – it is not all drama and disease focus for the rest of your life.
You adjust and other things take center stage. That is not only normal but it is a good thing.
Second offering is something I picked up last month at the support group. When I said dry AMD is the base disease, they looked at me as if I had three heads. What I meant – and what they had not gleaned. Why won’t people do their research! Or minimally ask questions? – is that even though the shots have stopped the neovascularization, the growth of new blood vessel that lead to a bleed, you still have the underlying cause of the problem. The cause is regular, old, dry AMD.
This is why, even though you think the stuff we publish on dry AMD does not relate to you, it does.
Wet AMD is one type of end stage AMD and geographic atrophy is the other. Stopping the bleeding does not eliminate the underlying disease. It just eliminates the symptom.
Which brought me to another thought. I have never seen anything that says if an eye prevented from going wet will go to geographic atrophy. Hmmmmm…..
Nuts! More to worry about. Kaszubski et al in Geographic Atrophy and Choroidal Neovascularization in the Same Eye: A Review stated there are people who can have both forms at the same time. Geographic Atrophy generally happens first. (That part is bad news for me although I am under the impression that for me there is very little left to ‘save’ by building new blood vessels.)
To follow the question posed above, though, they also say there is some evidence anti-VEGF shots can increase the chances of GA development.
While that is bad news for you getting the shots it does NOT mean to stop your shots. No shot and you will bleed. Bleeds lead to scarring and certain vision loss now. GA is slow and lead to vision loss later. Given a choice, battle the bleeds and worry about the atrophy later.
End of lecture.
Other than that, in real time Memorial Day approaches and I am thinking summer. Although I know there is ‘no rushing city hall’ (to paraphrase another old chestnut), I started looking up Astellas and Robert Lanza again. Just to see what the dear boy is up to. I have been hoping to get to Philly and the clinical trials this summer. It would be perfect timing for me but I am not sure about the Astellas Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AIRM). They will need to give Wills the go ahead to start one of ‘my’ clinical trials before anything happens for me.
Astellas is gearing up for something, though. Something big. A couple of years back they bought OCATA for $379 million. Now they are on a hiring binge and are looking for a bigger location in or near Marlborough, Mass.
In the business articles I read Lanza purposely hyped the work they are doing on AMD. I am assuming that is still their big thrust. (That is even though AIRM is in a variety of areas of regenerative medicine and Lanza himself is intellectually all over the place, including developing a theory of the Universe!)
Anyway, seeing this big a build-up with lots of business chatter tells me something is going to happen. Just hope it is in the trial I have volunteered for. My eyes and I are not getting any younger!