Retinal progenitor cells for treatment of retinitis pigmentosa
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a severe form of blindness that runs in families with an incidence of 1:4000. A team at UC Irvine, is using cells called retinal progenitor cells to repair the damage caused by this vision destroying disease. The cells are injected into the back of the eye and it’s hoped they will help preserve the photoreceptors attacked by RP as well as generate new photo receptors to replace those destroyed by the disease. CIRM is now funding a Phase 2 trial, sponsored by a jCyte, that is testing this treatment in a larger group of RP patients.
Open label, single arm study. Intravitreal injection of human retinal progenitor cells in worst seeing eye. Ascending dose (0.5-3M cells) in 2 cohorts.
Safety and efficacy - visual acuity.
Completed enrollment and dosing.