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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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The French biotech GenSight Biologics has received regulatory authorization in the UK to launch the PIONEER Phase 1/2 clinical trial for its GS030 system — a light-sensing gene therapy (optogenetics) coupled with eyewear, which enhances visual stimulation. The system is designed to restore vision for people who are blind from retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and potentially other retinal conditions such as: Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease, and dry age-related macular degeneration.
The GS030 will be evaluated in 18 people with RP who can see no better than counting fingers. Additional trial details are available at the clinical trials Web site hosted by the National Institutes of Health.
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Ashley and Cole Carper traveled from Little Rock, AR, to tell their family’s story at the FDA hearing.
Spark Therapeutics has taken a major step closer to gaining marketing approval for its vision-restoring gene therapy for people with RPE65 mutations causing Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and retinitis pigmentosa. At the conclusion of a public hearing on October 12, 2017, an advisory committee comprised of FDA-selected experts voted unanimously – 16 to 0 – to recommend approval. The FDA is due to make a final decision on marketing approval for the treatment, known as voretigene neparvovec, by January 12, 2018.
The event held at FDA headquarters included the presentation of trial results from Spark representatives, as well as compelling testimony from patients, family members, and industry stakeholders.
Twenty-four-year-old Katelyn Corey told hearing attendees that before receiving the treatment, her constant adaptation to dwindling vision didn’t leave time for much else in her life. But her circumstances changed dramatically in December 2013, after she received the RPE65 gene therapy in Spark’s Phase III clinical trial.
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Applied Genetics Technology Corporation (AGTC) reported that its gene therapy for X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS) has performed encouragingly in a Phase I/II, safety-oriented clinical trial taking place at seven sites in the U.S.
XLRS is an inherited disease that leads to significant vision loss due to splitting of the layers of the retina. The condition affects about 35,000 males in the U.S. and Europe. XLRS is caused by mutations in the gene retinoschisin. AGTC’s gene therapy uses a human-engineered virus — and adeno-associated virus or AAV — to deliver normal copies of retinoschisin to the patient’s retina.
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For anyone wanting to know about the latest clinically focused research for inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), the Innovation Summit for Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy was the place to be.
In its fourth year, the meeting is becoming the world’s most comprehensive overview of the promising research underway for emerging IRD treatments. Hosted by the Foundation Fighting Blindness and Casey Eye Institute (Oregon Health & Science University), the Innovation Summit featured 44 information-packed presentations from research and industry leaders. Summit co-hosts were Casey’s Mark Pennesi, MD, PhD, and Trevor McGill, PhD, and Patricia Zilliox, PhD, chief drug development officer of FFB’s Clinical Research Institute. More than 250 researchers and industry leaders were in attendance. Spark Therapeutics was a sponsor of the event.
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A 29-year-old British man is the first person to be treated in a gene therapy clinical trial for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP). Robert MacLaren, MD, the lead investigator for the trial taking place at the Oxford Eye Hospital in the United Kingdom, says the patient is doing well and has gone home. The trial is being run by Nightstar, a biopharmaceutical company in the U.K. developing therapies for inherited retinal diseases. As many as 24 patients will be enrolled in the 12-month trial.
Company Builds on FFB’s Initial Investment to Garner $265 Million in Therapy Development Funding
In the early 1990s, scientists began discovering the genetic defects causing blinding, inherited retinal diseases and saw a unique opportunity to overcome them. They envisioned gene therapy — delivering healthy genes to the retina to replace the bad ones — as an elegant approach to saving and restoring vision. Furthermore, a single injection of gene therapy would likely halt or reverse the disease process and work effectively for several years, perhaps the patients’ lifetimes.
The Foundation Fighting Blindness, the world’s leading private, nonprofit retinal research organization, funded most of these genetic discoveries for retinal diseases and immediately recognized the enormous opportunity for gene therapy to beat blindness.
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A retinal researcher can develop the best vision-saving stem-cell or gene therapy ever imagined, but if the doctor or surgeon can’t deliver it to the retina safely and effectively, the treatment is worthless. It could even be harmful.
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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...
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