Russ Lowe, who manages the busy San Francisco office of Senator
Dianne Feinstein, considers himself lucky that he fit the clinical profile to be included in the clinical trial at UCSF for Memantine. This new class of medication could protect the optic nerve from glaucoma damage.

"I've seen my eye charts, and I know that glaucoma is progressing in my left eye," he says. Several years ago, Lowe's mother found that she has glaucoma, which increases the risk to him and his teenaged sons.

"This trial was a low-risk opportunity," says Lowe. "At best, I'll get the actual drug to use in my eye, and at worst, I'll have the placebo and excellent treatment to manage the glaucoma pressure."

Under the direction of Drs. Shan Lin and Robert Stamper, Clinic Coordinator and Certified Ophthalmic Technician, Mary Lew, tests vision and manages regular follow-up care for Russ Lowe and all 21 patients in the Memantine clinical trial.

If early results show a significant advantage to the drugs, they will be made available to all patients prior to the end of the four-year trial, in 2005.

Patient Russ Lowe and all 21 patients for the Memantine clinical trial at UCSF receive attentive care from Clinic Coordinator Mary Lew, COT.