Eos Neuroscience: Lighting the way

When photoreceptor cells die, the retina is no longer sensitive to light even though retinal cells downstream in the phototransduction cascade remain intact. Eos Neuroscience Inc. is developing a gene therapy to make a specific population of these downstream cells light sensitive, which it thinks can restore sight to people blinded by retinitis pigmentosa and dry age-related macular degeneration.

Retinitis pigmentosa is a blanket term for a group of genetic disorders that lead to dystrophy of photoreceptors, resulting in blindness. Vitamin A can slow progression, but there is no cure...