Foundation Fighting Blindness launches retinitis pigmentosa natural history study
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A natural history study for people with retinitis pigmentosa caused by mutations in the gene EYS has been launched by the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
The 4-year international Rate of Progression in EYE Related Retinal Degeneration (Pro-EYS) study will estimate the rate of disease progression and evaluate the usefulness of different outcome measures for future clinical trials, according to a press release.
“The findings from this natural history study will be published and widely disseminated so that we can share what we learn with therapy developers from around the world,” Todd Durham, PhD, vice president of clinical development and outcomes research at the foundation, said in the release. “Our goal is to boost and accelerate EYS therapy development for all commercial and academic researchers. One way we do this is to make deidentified data from the study accessible to researchers who can use it to design clinical trials.”
Pro-EYS will include approximately 100 patients: 70 with visual acuity of 20/80 or better and visual field diameter of 10° or more, 20 with visual acuity between 20/100 and 20/400 or visual acuity of 20/80 or better and visual field diameter of less than 10°, and 10 with visual acuity of 20/500 or worse.
Investigators will study visual fields, visual acuity, retinal sensitivity and the patients’ ellipsoid zone size.