The burden of diabetic vision loss in the West

Vision loss associated with diabetes is one of the more prevalent and growing healthcare burdens in the Western world.

In today’s podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh welcomes Dr Catherine Beech, CEO of Exonate, for a discussion on retinal vascular disease and a potential eye drop treatment for diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema, instead of invasive injections into the eye.

Although there are retinal diseases of genetic cause, with over 500 million adults with diabetes, all are at risk of diabetic eye disease, and half are likely to develop vision loss. From a psychological point of view, the concept of an injection treatment is hard to accept, so attendance for appointments is low – and it doesn’t always work.

While Beech doesn’t think the injection is as horrific as patients fear, and would distinctly urge those with appointments to attend, Exonate is nonetheless developing a potential alternative, no needles involved.

You can listen to episode 144a of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series - in iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Podbean, and pretty much wherever you get your other podcasts!