First oral uveitis drug reduces both inflammation and recurrence in potentially blinding e...(the eye is the 4th leading cause of blin...)

Date:5/4/2009

the eye, is the 4th leading cause of blindness and often affects patients under the age of 40, but the disease remains frequently mistreated," commented Dr. Rosenbaum. "Uveitis has many causes and experts often disagree about what constitutes successful treatment. Accordingly, no pharmaceutical company previously has attempted to demonstrate that an oral medication can successfully treat uveitis, and there are currently no FDA-approved oral medications for this condition. Treating physicians often prescribe corticosteroids, which are burdened with a variety of serious systemic side effects when given orally. Even if applied as drops to the eye, corticosteroids can cause cataract formation and glaucoma. Based on the results of the LUMINATE trial program, LX211 appears to offer a therapeutic and safety profile that would meet the critical need for an oral medication for uveitis. LX211 is not a corticosteroid, but allows the reduced use of corticosteroids like prednisone, which in turn reduces the serious side-effects associated with those drugs."

Dr. Rosenbaum noted that a poster presentation at ARVO from a survey of U.S. ophthalmologists and rheumatologists from 27 states, presented by researchers from the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, found that the dose of oral corticosteroids used commonly to keep chronic inflammation within the eye under control is in the range of 25 mg/day. This compares to a recommended chronic dose by the uveitis community of 10 mg/day or less. Of additional note, patients enrolled in the LX211-02 protocol, which evaluated the use of LX-211 in subjects with treated but quiescent disease, received doses of corticosteroids that were more than 50% higher than this recommendation. It is well documented that systemic steroids at doses above 10 mg/day cause a myriad of adverse effects, such as osteoporosis, resulting in increased risk for hip or spinal fractures, and metabolic disturbances including obesity, h
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Contact: Joan Kureczka JKureczka@comcast.net 415-821-2413 Kureczka/Martin Associates Source:Eurekalert

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