Despite the challenges of the pandemic, researchers and pharmaceutical companies are still making progress towards delivering new treatments for inherited sight loss.
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The latest news from Retina UK. Please use the filters to find the articles which interest you.
New mechanism of disease discovered for Retinitis Pigmentosa
The team have found the cause of disease in the first ever family tree drawn up at Moorfields Eye Hospital over 35 years ago, which had remained unsolved until now.
Biotechnology company ProQR has announced encouraging results from its early analysis of the phase 1/2 trial of QR-421a, an innovative approach to treating sight loss caused by mutations in a particular section of the USH2A gene.
Biopharmaceutical company ProQR is conducting a Phase 2/3 clinical trial (Illuminate) to measure the safety and effectiveness of RNA therapy, Sepofarsen which aims to treat Leber's Congenital Amourosis (LCA) 10.
An American living with Leber congenital amaurosis 10 (LCA10) has become the first clinical trial participant in the world to receive a CRISPR gene editing treatment in vivo (inside the body).
First patient receives ground-breaking treatment
In January 23-year-old Jake Ternent became the first person with an inherited sight loss condition to be treated in the UK with Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec) for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA).
Early results from clinical testing of a gene therapy to treat X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) have shown partial reversal of sight loss in some patients.
As Luxturna reaches the clinic and other gene-specific therapies for inherited retinal disease get closer to the end of the development pipeline, it is becoming ever more important that affected families can access a genetic diagnosis, potentially opening up choices around treatment and clinical trial participation.