Can a Low-Cost HIV Drug Enhance Vision for Diabetes Patients?

New Delhi, May 28 (NationPress) An affordable, long-established HIV medication has shown potential in enhancing vision for individuals suffering from a debilitating diabetes-related complication, based on initial findings from a clinical trial.

This drug, lamivudine, could provide a significant new treatment avenue for millions dealing with diabetic macular edema (DME) -- a condition impacting approximately one in fourteen diabetes patients. DME leads to fluid accumulation in the retina, impairing vision.

Since the medication is administered orally, it presents a viable alternative to the typical monthly injections directly into the eye, as noted by the researchers from the University of Virginia in the United States.

"The way lamivudine operates differs from current therapies, paving the way for potential combination treatments," stated researcher Jayakrishna Ambati from UVA Health's Center for Advanced Vision Science.

The team clarified that lamivudine’s effectiveness against DME stems from its ability to inhibit inflammasomes -- crucial components of our immune response. While inflammasomes are typically infection sensors, they have also been linked to the onset of DME.

For this study, published in the journal Med, twenty-four adults with DME participated in a randomized clinical trial.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive either lamivudine or a non-active placebo, along with injections of the drug bevacizumab into their eyes, commencing four weeks later.

Those who received lamivudine demonstrated substantial vision enhancements even prior to their initial eye injections. Their capacity to read letters on an eye chart improved by 9.8 letters (approximately two lines on the chart) after four weeks, whereas the placebo group experienced a decline of 1.8 letters.

A month following the bevacizumab injections, lamivudine recipients showed an extraordinary improvement of 16.9 letters (more than three lines on the eye chart), in contrast to the placebo group, which only improved by 5.3 letters.

The findings indicate that lamivudine may be effective both independently and in conjunction with bevacizumab injections, although further research with larger participant numbers is necessary to confirm this, researchers noted.

Lamivudine alone could be transformative for patients in many regions lacking access to specialized healthcare or those unable to afford or travel for monthly eye treatments, Ambati emphasized, urging for more extensive trials involving lamivudine with larger cohorts.