About Diabetic Retinopathy, Diabetic Macular Edema and current treatmentsDiabetic retinopathy is damage to the retina of the eyes caused by complications of diabetes mellitus and often resulting in loss of visual acuity and blindness. Macular edema of the eyes is often an early form of diabetic retinopathy that causes significant vision loss. Almost all Type 1 diabetics and more than 60% of Type 2 diabetics will develop retinopathy. There is no effective daily drug treatment for diabetic retinopathy other than general measures, such as controlling blood sugar, hypertension, blood lipids, etc. Due to the global diabetes epidemic, diabetic retinopathy is recognized as a high, unmet medical need that would benefit from having oral therapeutic options available. The only treatments available for macular edema now are laser therapy, injection or implantation of drugs into or around the eyeball (not approved in the US or Canada). To our knowledge, Optina(TM) is the only proposed oral treatment for this condition.About Optina(TM)

ACE2, a molecule that has been shown to prevent damage in the heart, is now proving to be protective of the major organs that are often damaged in diabetic patients.

TARRYTOWN, N.Y., May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGN) and Bayer HealthCare today announced that Bayer's Japanese subsidiary, Bayer Yakuhin, Ltd.

Research carried out at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD), University of Exeter, has concluded that it would be a safe and cost-effective strategy to screen people with type 2 diabetes who have not yet developed diabetic retinopathy, for the disease once every two years instead of annually.

There may be new found hope for patients whose vision is threatened when medicine injected directly into the eyes fails to cause abnormal blood vessels to recede.