What is a Cataract, and Can It Be Medically Treated?
The eye lens is transparent because it is composed of specialized lens fiber cells containing structural proteins, with no blood vessels to scatter light. However, these fibers and proteins cannot repair themselves. With aging or in the presence of metabolic disease, damage accumulates, light scattering increases, and the lens gradually becomes opaque. This loss of transparency is known as a cataract.
Cataracts progress through several stages. In the earliest phase, biochemical changes may be reversible if treated promptly. But once lens proteins and fibers are irreversibly damaged, lens clarity cannot be restored by any known drug therapy. Currently, the only treatment is surgical removal of the damaged lens. Even then, complications such as posterior capsular opacities can occur, particularly in young children and in veterinary patients such as dogs.
Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide, with 90% of patients suffering from cataract-related vision loss living in underdeveloped countries. The World Health Organization has identified anti-cataract therapies as a critical global health priority, estimating that a 10-year delay in cataract onset could reduce cataract blindness and surgeries by 50%.
Research has shown that cataracts can arise from different mechanisms. Most age-related cataracts are driven by cumulative oxidative stress due to declining antioxidant defenses, ultraviolet light exposure, or irradiation. By contrast, sugar cataracts occur in diabetes and galactosemia, where excess glucose or galactose is metabolized into sorbitol or galactitol via the enzyme aldose reductase. These sugar alcohols accumulate in lens epithelial cells, triggering osmotic swelling, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and oxidative damage.
By targeting these mechanisms, Therapeutic Vision, Inc. (TVI) is pioneering disease-modifying treatments for cataracts:
- Kinostat®– A topical aldose reductase inhibitor developed by TVI. In experimental and clinical studies, Kinostat® has been shown to prevent sugar cataract formation by blocking sorbitol/galactitol accumulation and the resulting oxidative stress.
- TVI Antioxidant Nutraceuticals – TVI has also developed a veterinary nutraceutical formulation designed to mimic the multifunctional properties of its proprietary redox modulators. This product has demonstrated benefits in reducing age-related cataracts and dry eye disease in companion animals, with promising implications for broader use.
Through these innovations, TVI is addressing the underlying biochemical causes of cataract formation rather than just managing the outcome, moving closer to the World Health Organization’s goal of reducing global cataract blindness