Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of inherited disorders characterized by progressive peripheral vision loss and night vision difficulties (nyctalopia) that can lead to central vision loss. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first retinal implant, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, for adults aged 25 years or older with advanced RP. The…
RetroSense Therapeutics, LLC, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug designation for the Company’s lead product RST-001 for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Retinitis pigmentosa is a genetic condition which leads to the progressive degeneration of rod and cone photoreceptors (cells found in…
…stem cell researchers have struggled to coax the malleable cells to form the 10 layers of the retina. And, crucially, no one had, before now, produced lab-grown retinal cells that they demonstrated would respond to light.Researchers at Johns Hopkins pulled it off, they reported in a paper published recently in Nature Communications. They cultivated a…
For the first time, scientists have successfully transplanted light-detecting cells in the retina, grown from embryonic stem cells, into mice–a feat that could advance similar therapies using the artificial cells to treat degenerative eye diseases toward human trials. The animal transplant is a huge step for embryonic stem cell-based therapies, which have moved slowly to…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first artificial retina, an implanted device that replicates some of the function of the retina, helping to restore vision to people blinded with a rare genetic disorder. The device is intended to replace the function of light-sensing cells in the retina destroyed by retinitis pigmentosa, an…
Diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, cone-rod dystrophy and Stargardt disease cause scotomas, or blind spots, which often have devastating effects on central vision. They cause gaps in a person’s visual field, making it difficult to see words in a book, images on a computer monitor or TV and the features of someone’s face. A…
A new study led by the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute reports that carnosic acid, found in the herb rosemary, actually promotes eye health. Led by Dr. Stuart A. Lipton, the team found that carnosic acid protects the retina from degeneration and toxicity in cell culture and in rodent models of light-induced retinal damage. This suggests…
Retinitis pigmentosa, a blinding eye disease that is caused by the same genetic defect in both dogs and humans, was successfully corrected by a University of Pennsylvania research team that used gene therapy in afflicted dogs. The retinitis pigmentosa cure holds promise for eventual treatment in humans as well. Both humans and dogs can contract…
Promising treatments for those blinded by an often-hereditary, retina-damaging disease are expanding throughout Europe and making their way across the pond, offering a ray of hope for the hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. left in the dark by retinitis pigmentosa. The disease—which affects about one in 4,000 people in the U.S. and…