Posted by Michael Wonder on 19 Dec 2017
FDA approves novel gene therapy to treat patients with a rare form of inherited vision loss
19 December 2017 - Luxturna is the first gene therapy approved in the U.S. to target a disease caused by mutations in a specific gene.
The U.S. FDA today approved Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), a new gene therapy, to treat children and adult patients with an inherited form of vision loss that may result in blindness. Luxturna is the first directly administered gene therapy approved in the U.S. that targets a disease caused by mutations in a specific gene.
The safety and efficacy of Luxturna were established in a clinical development program with a total of 41 patients between the ages of 4 and 44 years. All participants had confirmed biallelic RPE65 mutations. The primary evidence of efficacy of Luxturna was based on a Phase 3 study with 31 participants by measuring the change from baseline to one year in a subject’s ability to navigate an obstacle course at various light levels. The group of patients that received Luxturna demonstrated significant improvements in their ability to complete the obstacle course at low light levels as compared to the control group.
