From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— UW-Madison researchers have created a new therapy for retinal diseases that could help patients at risk of losing their vision.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation is touting the technology as a top licensing prospect in its health care portfolio of UW-Madison inventions. It was created by David Gamm, a professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences, as well as postdoctoral researcher Celia Bisbach.
Their approach precisely targets and eliminates a protein called VEGF that leads to abnormal blood vessel growth within the eye, according to an overview from WARF.
Bisbach says the invention stemmed from a desire to take a more targeted approach to disease treatment. The method they developed creates a longer-lasting effect, “so you don’t have to keep getting injections into your eye over and over and over again,” she said in a video provided by WARF.
Gamm, who directs the university’s McPherson Eye Research Institute, notes treating macular degeneration is a multi-billion dollar industry. This condition affecting the retina can cause the loss of central vision in affected patients, disrupting their ability to recognize faces, read, drive and more.
“It’s a really huge problem in the aging population,” he said. “Takes away their independence, and really affects their activities of daily living.”
By selectively removing the targeted signaling protein from certain areas while “letting it do its normal job” in other parts of the eye, this method can treat the disease without causing undue harm elsewhere, Gamm said.
While the research project is still in its early to middle phases, it’s already demonstrated their method works well, according to Gamm.
Bisbach notes many drug companies are already targeting the VEGF protein with therapeutics.
“Most people are using … antibody inhibitor-based approaches, and my hope is that some of these companies will see this technology, and realize how closely their existing products can be adopted to … fit into this new therapeutic strategy,” she said.
Ultimately, this approach represents a “first foray” into its applications within the eye, and Gamm says it could pave the way for therapies treating other diseases elsewhere in the body.
Watch the video.
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