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Researchers in laboratories are making exciting progress in finding treatments that demonstrate strong potential for saving or restoring vision. These advancements offer great hope, but collaboration among the right players is critical to advancing treatments with promise into clinical trials and to people who need them. The Foundation recently hosted the 4th Annual Retinal Innovation Symposium in Orange County, Ca. to foster this necessary exchange, bringing together leading retinal experts, venture capitalists, biopharmaceutical companies, and biomedical entrepreneurs interested in advancing retinal research.
“It has been highly advantageous for the Foundation to connect these communities to share ideas and discuss treatments and cures for retinal degenerative diseases,” said Stephen Rose, Ph.D., the Foundation’s chief research officer. “The symposium creates an ideal forum for researchers to meet early-stage companies and potential investors with interests in a wide range of treatment methods for vision-robbing diseases. It’s also exciting to see that the larger, established biopharmaceutical companies are more open to developing treatments for our rare diseases.”
One Foundation partnership the annual symposium has helped nurture is with Neurotech. The company just completed clinical trials for its Encapsulated Cell Technology (ECT), a tiny implantable capsule that provides sustained delivery of a vision-saving protein for treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Dr. Rose notes how ECT is a promising platform for delivering treatment with great potential in the area of retinal degenerative diseases.
To facilitate this day-long exchange of expertise, Dr. Rose worked closely with the symposium’s co-chairs: William J. Link, Ph.D., the managing director of the health care venture capital firm Versant Ventures, and Baruch Kupperman, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the retina service, and vice chair for clinical research at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at the University of California, Irvine.
“My big take away from the day is shared optimism,” said Dr. Link. “We’re making headway in getting advancements from the lab to the clinic, and there’s a consensus among these top-notch participants to innovate and solve the challenges we all care so much about: treating and curing retinal diseases.”
The symposium featured a series of presentations and panel sessions on research, new products, and business ventures. The morning program included presentations from Dr. Steven Bramer, the Chief Drug Development Officer for the clinical arm of the Foundation, retinal researchers and early-stage biotech and pharmaceutical companies. The afternoon program began with presentations from more established industry companies, which were followed by panel discussions about industry and investor perspectives on retinal degenerative disease opportunities with representatives from pharmaceutical companies and venture capital firms.
“The exposure and guidance the early-stage biopharmaceutical companies and our researchers receive at this symposium is invaluable for advancing promising treatments to the market and to patients who are losing their vision,” said Dr. Rose. “And, it brings the Foundation one step closer to a cure.” |
