Foundation Fighting Blindness to Host Annual Retinal Cell & Gene Therapy Innovation Summit Before ARVO

The Foundation Fighting Blindness will co-host the 6th annual Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation Summit, in partnership with the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. The summit–one of the world’s most comprehensive reviews (three dozen presenters) of ongoing and planned clinical research for retinal degenerative diseases–will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Friday, April 26, 2019, prior to the 2019 annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).

At the summit, representatives from biotech and pharma industries will come together with members of the physician and scientist communities to discuss rapidly emerging retinal gene, cell and novel therapies and strategize how to move the emerging options forward. The summit features presentations by leading retinal disease experts on potential gene and stem-cell therapies and how best to deliver them to patients. 

“The purpose of the summit is to create visibility for the many projects based on gene or cell therapy approaches that are in or entering the clinic,” Brian Mansfield, PhD, executive vice president, interim chief scientific officer, said in the news release. “These approaches, many of which were initiated or supported with funding from the Foundation, hold strong promise for the treatment of diseases of the retina, such as age-related macular degeneration and inherited conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt disease. This progress is occurring due to the expertise and collaboration of companies, clinicians, and scientists, many of whom will attend the summit.”

Summit registration is open to academic, physician, biotech and pharmaceutical representatives, as well as industry media interested in learning more about the collaborative advancements featured at the summit. For additional information, please visit https://www.regonline.com/InnovationSummitVancouver.

Presentations of Note

FRIDAY, APRIL 26

• 12:15 PM – 12:30 PM: Ascl1-mediated reprogramming of Müller glia promotes functional regeneration in mouse retina Dr. Thomas Reh, University of WashingtonIn this exciting presentation, Dr. Reh will share information on promising new research to enable targeted cell regeneration, allowing the eye to produce new, functional photoreceptors.
• 1:20 PM – 1:45 PM: [KEYNOTE] Gene Therapy for Retinal Disease Dr. Robert MacLaren, University of OxfordIn our keynote speech, Dr. MacLaren will share insights from his work as lead investigator for choroideremia, cross-linked retinopathy of prematurity, and dry AMD gene therapy clinical trials.
• 1:45 PM – 2:00 PM: Subretinal implantation of human retinal progenitor stem cellsDr. Jason Comander, Massachusetts Eye and EarHere, Dr. Comander will review early, encouraging vision improvements for the ReNeuron Phase 2 retinal progenitor clinical trial for patients with retinopathy of prematurity.