Glaucoma Foundation seeks cure for exfoliation syndrome

The Glaucoma Foundation’s International Scientific Think Tank joined for a 2-day meeting to focus initiatives on exfoliation syndrome, as part of a 3-year effort.

"As a result of this new focus we have significantly increased the number of people who are working in this disease and areas relating to this disease," Robert Ritch, MD, the Glaucoma Foundation's medical director and Think Tank organizer, said in a press release. "We have gained more professional awareness and in the last 3 years have probably tripled the number of people doing research in this field."

More than 40 scientists and glaucoma clinicians from research institutions met for 2 days, focusing on four different facets of exfoliation syndrome: genetics and genomics, biomarkers, animal models and the mechanism of the production of exfoliation material by the cells in the eye.

As the most common identifiable cause of open-angle glaucoma, the Glaucoma Foundation has devoted efforts to curing exfoliation syndrome for more than 3 years with a research grants program. The foundation has raised $2 million to support this initiative, according to the release.