Delaying diabetic retinopathy

The results of the FIELD (Fenofibrate Intervention and Event Lowering in Diabetes) study confirmed fenofibrate’s protective effect on the eyes of patients with diabetes as unique compared to other lipid-modifying agents, including statins.

This made fenofibrate as the first lipid-modifying agent to demonstrate protection against diabetic retinopathy and was independent from blood glucose and blood pressure control.

The FIELD study offered hope to patients with diabetes as the sub-analysis and the sub-study concluded that fenofibrate, a lipid-modifying agent, slowed down the progression of diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes and diminished the need for laser coagulation therapy.

FIELD, a multinational, randomized study, was conducted to evaluate whether the treatment with fenofibrate for a median of five years could reduce the macrovascular and microvascular complications.

The detailed results of the study were published in the November 2007 issue of the Lancet journal.

Diabetic retinopathy, a condition on which the retina (inner surface of the back of the eye) is progressively damaged, has affected approximately 50 million of 200 million people with diabetes worldwide.

This grim situation has burdened patients with diabetes as it caused 80 percent of vision loss.

Diabetic retinopathy is commonly treated using laser coagulation therapy or laser treatment. An outpatient procedure performed by using anesthetic eye drops, laser treatment aims to control the leakage of blood and fluid in the retina, as well as the growth of new blood vessels, in an attempt to delay the progression of diabetic retinopathy, as with vision loss.

The FIELD study is one of the many breakthrough undertakings of Solvay Pharma.