Astigmatism: definition and measurement

OTEurope will be bringing you a report on Dr Alpins's presentation at a later date. In the meantime further breaking news from the congress included:

Positive pooled results confirm Microplasmin’s potential to transform the treatment of retinal disorders

The pooled results from the microplasmin MIVI-TRUST Phase III programme have shown that microplasmin was successful in resolving vitreomacular adhesion (VMA) and was able to cure full thickness macular hole (FTMH) without the need for surgery. It was also reported as being safe and well tolerated.

The MIVI-TRUST programme is the largest interventional clinical programme ever performed to specifically evaluate the vitreoretinal interface in patients with retinal disorders, recruiting a total of 652 patients at 90 centres across the US and Europe.

The results were presented at the EURETINA (European Society of Retina Specialists) Congress in Paris, France by Professor Peter Stalmans (University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium). Thrombogenics, the biopharmaceutical developer of microplasmin said that the results demonstrate the potential of microplasmin to transform the treatment of a range of retinal disorders.

Both the TG-MV-006 and TG-MV-007 trials met the primary endpoint, achieving a statistically significant improvement in the resolution of VMA. The pooled results from the MIVI-TRUST program showed that 26.4% of the 465 microplasmin treated patients achieved resolution of their VMA at 28 days, compared to 10.2% of the 182 patients who received a placebo injection, a highly statistically significant result (p=0.000002).

Professor Peter Stalmans said: “I am delighted to have presented these pooled results for the first time. Based on these exciting Phase III results and my own personal experience, I have little doubt that microplasmin will quickly become an important treatment option for patients with a range of retinal disorders, including macular hole. The benefits of this simple one-off injection are very appealing, when compared to surgery, to both patients and retina specialists.”

A more comprehensive report on these results will appear in the November issue of Ophthalmology Times Europe.