InGel’s cell therapy shows promise for preserving vision

Key Takeaways

• InGel Therapeutics is developing an innovative cellular treatment for preserving vision in people with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Usher syndrome and potentially other retinal conditions.
• The therapy showed efficacy in mice with RP and is being evaluated in large animals. 

Photoreceptors are special cells in the eye’s retina that are responsible for converting light into signals that are sent to the brain. There are two types of photoreceptor cells, rods and cones. Several eye problems involve damage to photoreceptor cells, including Usher syndrome and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). 

InGel Therapeutics is developing an innovative cellular treatment for preserving cone-mediated vision in people with RP, Usher syndrome, and potentially other retinal conditions. InGel’s therapy is comprised of purified rod photoreceptor precursors, i.e., rods that haven’t fully matured, that are injected through a syringe needle into the vitreous, the jelly-like substance that fills the middle of the eye. The rod precursors then secrete exosomes — vesicles containing as many as 550 protective molecules — into the eye, which naturally penetrate the patients’ existing cone photoreceptors. InGel’s rod precursors are contained in a biodegradable hydrogel, a vitreous-mimicking material which shields them from damaging stress when they are injected into the eye.

Efficacy of InGel’s cell therapy treatment was observed in mice with RP, as reported by Deepti Singh, PhD, InGel’s co-founder and chief scientific officer, at the Ninth Annual Retinal Gene and Cell Therapy Innovation Summit on May 3, 2024. The therapy is currently being evaluated in large animals. 

Edited by Miriam Kaplan, PhD

Source: Foundation Fighting Blindness, Eye on the Cure Research News, May 22, 2024; see source article