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With Halloween approaching, the American Optometric Association (AOA) is warning consumers about the risks of wearing decorative contact lenses without a prescription from an eye doctor. These non-corrective lenses, which are designed only to change the appearance of the eyes, are easily accessible to consumers and are especially popular around Halloween.

Lpath, Inc. (OTCBB: LPTN) announced that it has initiated dosing in its Phase 1 clinical trial with iSONEP(TM), the company's drug candidate for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and possibly for other ocular diseases. iSONEP is the ocular formulation of a monoclonal antibody that targets sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a bioactive lipid that is dysregulated in cancer and other disorders of inappropriate angiogenesis and inflammation.

Contact lenses increase the risk of infection with pathogenic protozoa that can cause blindness. New research, published in the November issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology, shows that a high percentage of contact lens cases in Tenerife are contaminated with Acanthamoeba that cannot be killed by normal contact lens solution. Acanthamoeba is one of the most common types of protozoa in soil and is often found in fresh water.