Some figures: I got my "every second month" injection of Eylea this morning, https://www.macular.org/eylea-injection-treatment https://www.macular.org/eylea-inj

Some figures: I got my "every second month" injection of Eylea this morning, https://www.macular.org/eylea-injection-treatment https://www.macular.org/eylea-injection-treatment. It cost $800 Australian dollars. Under our health scheme, I get $600 back. The guy beside me in the waiting room has been having injections for 17 & 1/2 years, that is, since the year 2000. He gets state-assistance to fly down 800 km to our capital city from the country. The lady across the aisle from me in the packed waiting room, has a relative drive her down from a regional town every second week, as she has macular degeneration in both eyes, with the alternate eye being treated on alternate visits. I give you these cases to illustrate that a lot of money is being presently spent on treating this disease. I have heard the incidence of macular degeneration in Australia described as an epidemic. Obviously, everyone would like a cheaper, longer-lasting treatment. That's what I am hoping the modified-virus treatment provides. The figure that jumps out of the page for me in the modified-virus report, http://www.aips.net.au/news-events/the-florey-medal/2017-professor-elizabeth-rakoczy/ http://www.aips.net.au/news-events/the-florey-medal/2017-pro..., is "This therapy has been licensed to US company Avalanche Biotechnologies Inc., which has raised over $400 million to progress the treatment through clinical trials and bring it to market." This figure of US$400 million takes my breath away. I note one of Prof. Rakoczy's clinical trials in Australia on 32 patients was done with a AU$370 thousand grant, among others, https://demo.ands.org.au/long-term-follow-gene-therapy/107896?source=undefined https://demo.ands.org.au/long-term-follow-gene-therapy/10789.... I guess the US$400 million trial will be more extensive. This means a few more years will have to go by before this comes to market (if it indeed does). I have found an open source article about Prof. Rakoczy's trial, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5161436/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5161436/. I note they removed the vitreous humor to place the modified-virus under the retina (termed a vitrectomy), recording that "It is not yet clear if subretinal injection can be done safely without vitrectomy". They seem very pleased with the results of that phase 2 trial.