Over the past few months, we have begun discussing gene therapy and the potential impact it will have on the field of medicine. Just recently, on August 30th, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made the first gene therapy treatment available in the United States. The treatment, Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), is for certain pediatric and young adult patients suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The multicenter trial for Kymriah consisted of 63 pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor ALL. The overall remission rate within three months of treatment was 83 percent. Click here to read more about the study and the amazing results. Dr. Rod Nowakowski of VisionAmerica has kept his finger on the pulse of developments in the field of gene therapy as it has rapidly progressed. Speaking of the most recent FDA announcement, Dr. Nowakowski stated, "In just a few years we have witnessed two amazing events in genetics. First was the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 and second was the first FDA approved gene therapy. "These are exciting times," Dr. Nowakowski exclaimed. "It is not gene therapy for an eye condition but that is likely to follow shortly as Spark Therapeutics is expected to get FDA approval soon for treating Leber congenital amaurosis." We will continue to follow the field of gene therapy closely and update you on any developments. If you have questions regarding gene therapy and how it may benefit your patients, please let us know! We would love to help!
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On Friday and Saturday, August 25th and 26th, approximately 200 doctors and staff joined us in Prattville, Alabama for the 2017 VisionAmerica Summer Conference.
The Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel & Conference Center at Capitol Hill once again served as our host and we were thrilled with the facilities and services provided by the staff. In addition to enjoying great food and networking, we also saw some great golf played and hosted over 20 great vendors. But what was undoubtedly the highlight of the conference was our time together in the auditorium and the great speakers that shared with us. We covered hot topics such as coding, genetics, and pharmacology while everyone at the conference raved about Dr. John McGreal's lecture on glaucoma. We are back with our most recent "Get to Know" session with the staff at VisionAmerica.
As always, this one is interesting. One thing we didn't expect to hear when we set down with Dr. Jeffrey Fuller was, "As a college student, I traveled Europe as a scholarship dancer." You just never know where the conversation is going to end up. We hope you enjoy this interview with VisionAmerica's Dr. Fuller. |
AuthorThe staff and doctors at VisionAmerica are committed to providing relevant information for you, your patients and your practice. We hope you find the information in our blog post helpful. Archives
August 2019
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