ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RetroSense Therapeutics LLC, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the MIT Technology Review has selected RetroSense as one of the 50 Smartest Companies in 2016. Editors at the MIT Technology Review conduct an annual search for the smartest companies with an innovative technology and a practical, yet ambitious business model. RetroSense is developing a novel gene therapy application of optogenetics to treat retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a debilitating genetic disease that causes blindness.
“The selection of RetroSense as one MIT Technology Review’s 50 Smartest Companies in 2016 highlights the technological significance of RetroSense’s novel therapy,” said Sean Ainsworth, CEO of RetroSense Therapeutics. “For the past decade, our researchers have been striving to find innovative solutions for diseases of the eye. Earlier in 2016, we initiated a clinical trial to test the ability of our gene therapy application of optogenetics to treat RP a form of blindness that is otherwise currently incurable.”
RetroSense is a leader in developing clinical applications of optogenetics. Optogenetics refers broadly to means of conferring light sensitivity to cells that were not previously, or natively, light sensitive. By applying optogenetics to retinas in which rod and cone photoreceptors have degenerated, RetroSense is working to confer new light sensitivity to the retina, with the expectation of some degree of improved or restored vision for affected patients.
About RST-001
The Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for RST-001 received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2015 and the clinical trial was initiated in early 2016. The clinical trial tracker is NCT02556736. For more information on the clinical trial, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.
About RetroSense Therapeutics
RetroSense Therapeutics is a privately-held biotechnology company developing life-enhancing gene therapies designed to restore vision in patients suffering from blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa and advanced dry age-related macular degeneration. There are currently no FDA-approved drugs to improve or restore vision in patients with these retinal degenerative conditions. The Company's approach to using optogenetics in vision restoration is based on pioneering, proprietary research conducted at Wayne State University and Massachusetts General Hospital. RetroSense has worldwide exclusive rights to the relevant intellectual property from both institutions. RetroSense is led by a team of seasoned veterans with deep experience in taking products from the discovery stage through to the clinic. For more information about RetroSense, visit http://www.retro-sense.com/.