Diabetes drug could slow retinal disease

A recent report into diabetes drugs indicates that patients with diabetes who use rosiglitazone could face a lower risk of developing diabetic retinopathy . Furthermore, people taking this drug may also be less likely to experience lower visual acuity, the report shows.
Diabetic retinopathy is one of the complications of diabetes, and refers to the formation of tiny blood vessels in the eye. This damages the vision, in some cases quite severely, and there are very few effective treatments for it.
A research team at the University of California Jules Stein Eye Institute surveyed people with diabetes who took rosiglitazone. The study authors reportedly commented:
“However, because this study does not rigorously prove that rosiglitazone either reduces the incidence of proliferative diabetic retinopathy or prevents loss of visual acuity, and because there may be adverse effects from therapy, rosiglitazone treatment of patients with diabetes specifically to reduce these ophthalmic complications is not advocated at this time.”