Acucela secures exclusive option to license novel cataract treatment

17 March 2016

Japanese ophthalmology firm Acucela (TYO: 4589) and USA-based YouHealth Eyetech, have entered into an agreement involving an exclusive option from YouHealth on lanosterol technology licensed from the Regents of the University of California, San Diego for the non-surgical pharmacologic treatment of cataracts.

Cataracts are responsible for 51% of all blindness as well as 24 million surgical procedures worldwide in 2015. Currently, there is no non-surgical treatment available for cataracts. A non-invasive therapy that improves lens clarity and vision at the early stage of cataract development and may reverse lens opacification at later stages would be considered a significant medical breakthrough.

Would be first of its kind for the pharmacologic treatment of cataracts

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