MacuSight(TM) Announces Positive Preliminary Results From Phase 1 Study of Sirolimus in Wet Age-Related Macular De...(retinal thickness. Thesepreliminary find...),Health

Intravitreal injections (into the central cavity of the eye), while the standard route of administration for current therapies, are uncomfortable for many patients and are accompanied by the risk of serious infection in a small percentage of patients. In contrast, subconjunctival injections (just under the outer layer over the white of the eye) are designed to offer physicians and patients a less invasive and more convenient procedure.

"We are pleased to see the trial's positive safety and tolerability measures combined with promising indications of efficacy marked by consistent and rapid improvements in visual acuity and retinal thickness following a single injection of sirolimus," said Dr. Dugel. "Furthermore, the fact that patients in the subconjunctival injection arms exhibited efficacy measures equal to, and in some cases greater than, those in the intravitreal injection arms indicates that this product also has the potential to offer physicians and patients significant safety and ease of administration advantages."

Also at the Angiogenesis, Exudation and Degeneration 2008 conference, Mark Blumenkranz, M.D., chairman of MacuSight's scientific advisory board and professor and chairman of the department of ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, presented the final results of MacuSight's Phase 1 study of sirolimus in patients with DME. These findings corroborate the preliminary results which MacuSight announced in October 2007 at the 40th Annual Meeting of The Retina Society.

"We are very encouraged by this study's findings as they provide a compelling demonstration of sirolimus' potential therapeutic activity in patients with wet AMD. This is particularly exciting as these results are consistent with previously ann
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