Foundation Fighting Blindness to Host 6th Annual Retinal Cell & Gene Therapy Innovation Summit Before ARVO SOURCE Foundation Fighting Blindness
The Summit, which will bring physicians, scientists, and industry together to collaboratively advance innovation for emerging retinal therapies, will be held Friday, April 26, 2019.
COLUMBIA, Md., April 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Foundation Fighting Blindness, a national nonprofit focused on funding cutting-edge retinal disease research, will co-host the sixth 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," said Brian Mansfield, PhD, executive vice president, interim chief scientific officer. "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
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM: Subretinal implantation of human retinal progenitor stem cells Dr. Jason Comander, Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Here, Dr. Comander will review early, encouraging vision improvements for the ReNeuron Phase 2 retinal progenitor clinical trial for patients with retinopathy of prematurity.
