MIP-1a was also necessary for the second phase of the disease, which is associated with chronic allergy.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Eyelid protein is key to allergy

Many eye-vitamin formulations currently on the market are based on research conducted by the National Institutes of Health in a project called Age-Related Eye Disease Study, or AREDS. The first phase of the clinical trial, completed in 2001, found that a specific combination of vitamins C and E, along with beta-carotene and zinc, reduced the risk of age-related macular degeneration by as much as 25%.

WSJ: The Crucial Years for Protecting Your Eye Health

In the first stage of a phase III study called CLL11, the drug in combination with chemotherapy significantly reduced the risk of disease worsening or death compared to chemotherapy alone in previously untreated patients.

FORBES: Roche's Worth $58 On Continued Growth And Strong Pipeline

Myozyme for Pompe disease, now in its final phase of clinical trials, is potentially next.

FORBES: Magazine Article

"This is exactly what you would want to see to justify going to a big phase III program, " says Steven Ferris, director of the NYU Langone Alzheimer's Disease Center and a paid adviser to Elan.

FORBES: Hope Mixes With Doubt For Alzheimer's

Just three months before its planned split into two companies, Abbott Laboratories is suffering a significant setback after a Phase III trial for a chronic kidney disease treatment was ended due to an excessive number of deaths and serious adverse events in patients.

FORBES: For Abbott, Setbacks Happen In Threes; Now, A Kidney Drug Trial Ends Over Deaths