Taiwanese researchers have developed a potential alternative to atropine eye drops that could cure childhood pseudomyopia without the side effects from atropine use.
The experimental eye drops, which last year received the National Innovation Award, use ribonucleic acid (RNA) interference to reverse childhood myopia and are scheduled to begin clinical trials late next year.
Controlling pseudomyopia — a precursor to myopia — is an important task in preventive medicine, Juo Suh-hang (卓夙航), head of the research project and a professor at China Medical University’s Institute of New Drug Development, said on Monday.
While myopia’s effect on vision can be corrected, surgical procedures do not lessen the risks of retinal detachment, macular degeneration and glaucoma that accompany severe myopia in middle-aged or older people, Juo said.
The most commonly prescribed eye drops for pseudomyopia contain the active ingredient atropine, he said.
However, atropine induces pupil dilation, which causes light sensitivity, blurry vision and increased susceptibility to eye damage from ultraviolet rays, he added.
As the groups most likely to receive treatment for pseudomyopia are school-aged children and adolescents, such side effects are amplified by prolonged periods of study and outdoor activities, Juo said.
To find an alternative for atropine, his team turned to genetics and found that people with myopia have an excessive amount of microRNA-328, he said.
Rather than suppress the secretion of microRNA-328 — which could alter the patient’s genes — the team developed a synthetic substance that neutralizes microRNA-328 and inhibits gene expression, a technique known as RNA interference, he said.
Animal trials have shown the experimental drug to be three to four times more effective than atropine and capable of reversing myopic eye axis elongation, while avoiding the side effects caused by atropine-induced pupil dilation, Juo said.
Research data suggest that the drug could completely cure pseudomyopia in children with vision equal to or better than minus-5 diopter, while halting myopic progression in children with worse vision and adults, he said.
Should the new drug pass human trials, it would be commercialized in seven to eight years, he added.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods