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news.ReNeuron Group said that its ongoing US collaboration with the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard Medical School will benefit from an unrestricted grant to advance retinal research at Schepens from a US specialty healthcare firm.
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The funding will be directed towards the first phase of a two year translational programme to take human retinal progenitor cells (hRPCs) towards the clinic in the US, initially as a candidate cell-based therapy for retinitis pigmentosa. ReNeuron has designated the first retinal candidate as ReN003.
Reportedly, the first phase of the programme is expected to involve studies to demonstrate functional improvement of vision after grafting of hRPCs in ophthalmic disease models. Systemic approaches to optimise the yield of hRPCs in culture will also be carried out in this next phase of the collaboration, ahead of future GMP manufacture of the cells.
Earlier, the researchers at Schepens have published two papers in the journals Experimental Eye Research and Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, describing the growth kinetics and molecular characterisation of hRPCs developed under the collaboration with ReNeuron and their ability to differentiate along the photoreceptor lineage, both in-vitro and in-vivo.
Although, retinitis pigmentosa is the initial target disease in ReNeuron’s collaboration with Schepens, the hRPCs developed in the programme will almost certainly be applicable as cell therapy candidates for other blindness-causing diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
Michael Young, lead investigator of the research, said: “We are excited that this grant funding has enabled us to move our research forward rapidly with ReNeuron and bring this therapy closer to helping patients with blinding diseases of the retina.”
John Sinden, chief scientific officer of ReNeuron, said: “We are delighted that Schepens has received this industrial grant and that it will be directed towards our ongoing collaboration to develop a cell-based therapy for retinitis pigmentosa using human retinal progenitor cells. We regard this funding as a strong endorsement of the potential of the programme and we very much look forward to working with the Schepens team to drive the programme towards the clinic as quickly as possible.”