GAITHERSBURG, Md.—LKC Technologies, a leader in the electroretinography device market, recently participated in the Diabetic Retinal Disease Clinical Endpoints Workshop of the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative (MTM Vision), held on October 25, 2022 in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Diabetic Retinal Disease Clinical Endpoints Workshop is a critical piece of MTM Vision’s response to the need to develop new ways to diagnose diabetic retinal disease, assess severity and risk, and predict rate of progression and response to therapy. The workshop identified knowledge gaps in the field and the participants will continue to work in a public-private consortium to develop new endpoints for research and clinical care of patients with diabetic retinal disease.

LKC participated along with 94 patients and representatives from JDRF, the National Institutes of Health, American Diabetes Association, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Research to Prevent Blindness, American Academy of Ophthalmology, The Glaucoma Foundation, leading pharmaceutical, biotech, and diagnostic device companies, and researchers and clinicians from the U.S., Europe, Japan, Singapore, and Australia.
 
“We believe that utilizing measures of visual function and quality of life, underlying basic and cellular mechanisms, and attributes of retinal neural and vascular pathophysiology that are not represented on color fundus photographs can contribute to better clinical outcomes and facilitate research, and are undertaking this effort to prove that hypothesis,” said steering committee chairman, S. Robert Levine, MD. Levine has led the development of the concept for the MTM Vision Initiative as a way to honor his wife, Mary Tyler Moore, who suffered from diabetic retinal disease.
 
Two LKC representatives contributed to the Visual Function and Retinal Physiology Endpoints breakout session. James Datovech, LKC president, who attended the session commented, “Attending this event truly affirms what LKC has been advocating for years, namely that functional testing in diabetic eye disease is an integral piece of the diagnostic and management challenge that cannot be met with structural measures alone.”