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New ocular health supplement targets glaucoma
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Guardion Health Sciences Inc. announced the launch of GlaucoCetin, a propriety formula shown in a clinical trial to reverse mitochondrial dysfunction in the optic nerve cells of glaucoma patients.
GlaucoCetin is an enhanced version of the parent compound, GlaucoHealth, which was created by Robert Ritch, MD, of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, Guardion said in a press release.
Ritch’s study of GlaucoHealth, which was presented in a poster at the 2018 American Glaucoma Society meeting, involved 28 patients randomized into one group that received placebo and another group that received GlaucoHealth, a combination of curcumin, ginkgo biloba extract, citicoline, coenzyme-Q10, N-acetyl-cysteine, alpha-lipoic acid, grapeseed extract and green tea extract.
Patients were evaluated with visual field testing, OCT and the retinal metabolic analyzer, which measures retinal flavoprotein autofluorescence, at 1 month and 3 months. Researchers saw no significant changes in visual field or OCT (macular retinal ganglion cell) indices in either group over time, according to the study.
However, there was a significant decrease from baseline to 1 month in optic nerve adjusted mitochondrial flavoprotein fluorescence and its average curve width, which are markers of mitochondrial oxidative stress, in patients treated with GlaucoHealth, but not in those who received placebo.
“Formulations with IOP-independent neuroprotective effects could be additive in slowing progression rates by reversing mitochondrial dysfunction,” Ritch and colleagues said in the poster. “Stabilizing mitochondria could shift the treatment paradigm to an earlier stage of disease, prior to retinal ganglion cell death.”
The researchers concluded that GlaucoHealth reverses mitochondrial dysfunction and may be neuroprotective in glaucoma. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO
Reference:
Ritch R, et al. A randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial of the efficacy of a novel
neuroprotective combination for reversing mitochondrial dysfunction in glaucoma. Presented at: American Glaucoma Society; March 1-4, 2018; New York.
Disclosure: Ritch is a member of Guardion’s medical advisory board.