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Glaucoma vaccine appears promising

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THOROFARE, N.J. — The active ingredient in a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis, glatiramer acetate, has been found beneficial as a vaccine to treat glaucoma in mice. The vaccine would be used to stop the progression of the disease, not to prevent its occurrence, according to researchers in Rehovot, Israel.

Over the past 2 years, Michal Schwartz, PhD, a professor of neuroimmunology at The Weizmann Institute of Science, has tested the novel vaccination approach in hundreds of rats. Vaccination reduced the retinal ganglion cell loss to about 10% from the previous 30%-40%.

“We are currently studying how often we will need to vaccinate in humans to maintain the protection,” she said. “This is not a vaccine to avoid onset of the disease. It is a vaccine to stop the progression of disease.”

More information about Dr. Schwartz's studies will be published in the September 15 issue of Ocular Surgery News.