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Sofia Sees Hope, a nonprofit dedicated to finding treatments and cures for people with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and other inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), has made a $100,000 donation to the Foundation Fighting Blindness to support therapy development and genetic testing.
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Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC), a leading developer of gene therapies, has reported the six-month follow-up data in all patients treated with its gene therapy for X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS) in its Phase 1/2 clinical trial. The company reported that no consistently significant clinical activity from the treatment was observed after six months. AGTC will continue to analyze all of the XLRS trial data and complete all visits specified in the clinical protocol. However, if the data at additional follow-up data visits are consistent with the current six-month findings, the company has stated that they will not further develop the product.
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Ophthotech Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapies for orphan retinal diseases and age-related macular degeneration, has announced an evolving, commercial partnership with the University of Pennsylvania and University of Florida to develop a gene therapy for Best disease caused by BEST1 mutations.
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More than two decades ago, the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) began funding RPE65 gene therapy research that led in late 2017 to LUXTURNA™, the first FDA-approved gene therapy for the eye or an inherited condition. Ultimately, the Foundation provided more than $10 million in funding for the groundbreaking effort.
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Ophthotech is a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing therapeutics and gene therapy solutions to treat retinal diseases. The company is aggressively pursuing therapies for orphan conditions like retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Stargardt disease, and Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), as well as common indications such as wet and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
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The Foundation Fighting Blindness has announced funding for seven new research projects to advance the development of treatments and cures for retinal degenerative diseases. Each project will receive a total of $300,000 over a three-year period.
The grants were selected through FFB’s annual call for research proposals from individual investigators. Seventy scientists submitted requests for funding. Applications were reviewed by FFB’s Scientific Advisory Board, which is comprised of the world’s leading retinal experts.
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Hosted by the Foundation Fighting Blindness and Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, the Innovation Summit for Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy has emerged as one of the most essential events for researchers and companies developing treatments and cures for retinal degenerative diseases.
In its fifth year, the Innovation Summit featured 40 presentations from industry experts from around the world. More than 250 people were in attendance. The event was held on April 27, the day before the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu.
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Horama, a French biotech developing gene therapies for rare eye diseases, was established in 2014 as a spin-off of INSERM, France’s public scientific and technology institute. Today, the company has three gene-therapy development programs underway for rare inherited retinal diseases, targeting people with mutations in the genes PDE6B, RPE65, and RLBP1.
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Untreated retina
Retina treated with gene therapy
Using gene therapy, FFB-funded researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) and Perelman School of Medicine have reversed the disease process in a canine model of Best disease, an inherited form of macular degeneration that can lead to severe vision loss in humans. The therapeutic effect of the treatment has been sustained for as long as five years. Results of the study led by Karina Guziewicz, PhD, and Artur Cideciyan, PhD, were published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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Nightstar Therapeutics, a retinal-disease, gene-therapy development company in the UK, is advancing its emerging gene therapy for choroideremia into a Phase 3 clinical trial known as STAR. The study will enroll approximately 140 patients at 18 clinical sites in the US, Europe, Canada, and South America.
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Steve is highly respected for his expertise and tireless commitment to finding treatments and cures for vision-robbing retinal diseases. Read More...
As the Foundation's Senior Director of Communi-cations, Ben writes science and research articles for the Foundation’s website, newsletters and Eye on the Cure blog. Read More...