The year has also been productive on the research and development front. Without diminishing the other two products, I can tell you we have reached a point with Dupuytren's Disease that is very exciting. Up until now, the only available treatment for this painful condition has been time consuming and expensive surgery. Also, BioSpecifics has been granted a U.S. patent for the use of collagenase ABC in Dupuytren's Disease, FDA has given the approach Orphan Drug designation, and just this month, we were awarded a research grant for continued clinical investigations by the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Medical Biotechnology. An ongoing trial of collagenase in the treatment of keloids at University Hospital of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine yielded positive results that were reported at the annual International Burn Foundation conference covering wound healing.
Ongoing work is very active.
An agreement has been reached with Bausch and Lomb for a collaborative clinical research investigation to confirm previous studies on the use of our collagenase for the treatment of glaucoma. An estimated three million Americans have glaucoma. As part of our business strategy, we are looking to add therapeutic products or acquire companies that will fit in with our technology, manufacturing and product licensing skills. Our Board of Directors recently authorized a program for the repurchase of up to 100,000 shares of our common stock. We believe that the common stock is undervalued, and view the stock repurchase program as a sound investment.