STUDIES & NEW TREATMENTS

brought to you by the Better Vision Institute :

In the summer of 1996, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (USA) approved cidofovir, another antiviral drug, to treat CMV retinitis. AIDS clinical studies have shown that while it did not reduce side effects, cidofovir treatment either helped slow the progression of the infection more than foscarnet and ganciclovir, or was effective in patients who experienced relapsing CMV retinitis after receiving other treatments. Cidofovir is administered intravenously once a week for the first two weeks and once every two weeks thereafter -- less than other treatments.

Furthermore, a new FDA-approved method offers patients a non-intravenous treatment. Doctors can insert a ganciclovir implant, Vitrasert, within the eye for early CMV retinitis patients. The implant not only releases medication directly into the eye, it also reduces some side effects that result from other treatments.