Neurotech is dedicated to treating serious and
currently inadequately treated ophthalmic diseases such as retinal
degeneration (age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa)
and vascular eye disorders (wet-form of age-related macular
degeneration, diabetic retinopathy).
Age-related macular degeneration
(AMD)
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the main cause of
blindness in elderly people in Western countries with a prevalence
of 30% in the over seventies. It is estimated that over 25 million
people worldwide suffer from the disease. The denegeration of
the macula (the central portion of the retina) causes loss of
vision in the center of the visual field. The macula is used
for reading, driving, recognizing faces or color and usually
for fine work.
Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is an inherited degenerative
disease of the retina at the back of the eye. The degeneration
of the photoreceptor cells diminishes a patient's ability to
see in dim light and can also diminish their peripheral vision
with time eventually leading to blindness. Although the symptoms
of RP may occur at any age, they most commonly appear in young
adults. RP is recognized as one of the most common inherited
causes of blindness in people between the ages of 20 and 60
affecting 1.6 million people worldwide.
Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is damage to the retina
caused by the microvascular changes that occur due to diabetes.
DR is the leading cause of blindness in people aged between
40 and 60 in the U.S. where it affects 4.5 million of the 7
million known diabetic patients. Ninety percent of the patients
with type I diabetes and 60% with type II develop DR after 20
years.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that gradually
steals sight without warning and often without symptoms. Vision
loss is caused by damage to the optic nerve. This nerve acts
like an electric cable with over a million wires and is responsible
for carrying the images we see to the brain.
It was once thought that high intraocular pressure (IOP)
was the main cause of this optic nerve damage. Although IOP
is clearly a risk factor, we now know that other factors must
also be involved because even people with "normal"
IOP can experience vision loss from glaucoma.
The two main types of glaucoma are open angle glaucoma, or
primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), and angle closure glaucoma.
