World Sight Day: eye health is in the sights of two pioneering UCLB spinouts

This week marked the World Health Organisation’s annual World Sight Day, an opportunity to highlight the importance of protecting our eyes and vision, raise awareness of vision impairment and blindness, and promote eye and vision care. We thought we’d take the opportunity to highlight some of the pioneering work by UCL researchers and the spinouts businesses they have formed with the help of UCLB to bring to market ground breaking new treatments for ocular diseases that affect millions worldwide.

Tenpoint Therapeutics 

Tenpoint Therapeutics is at the forefront of regenerative eye treatments. Co-founded by Professors Pete Coffey and Lyndon DaCruz, this UCLB spinout is revolutionising therapies for degenerative eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Their groundbreaking approach combines ex-vivo stem cell technology with in vivo reprogramming, replacing damaged retinal cells. In July 2023, Tenpoint secured £57m in a Series A funding round to further develop its platform, which could transform treatment for conditions previously considered untreatable. 

MeiraGTx 

Another UCLB standout is MeiraGTx. With a focus on inherited retinal diseases, MeiraGTx develops advanced therapies to address vision loss caused by genetic conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa. MeiraGTx is one of five UCLB spinouts listed on Nasdaq, reflecting the significant interest and confidence in its potential.  

A recent exciting advancement came when Evelina London Children’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital joined forces to carry out revolutionary eye gene therapy by MeiraGTx on a ‘specials’ licence for compassionate use. 

Khadijah Chaudhry, 3, from Hull, was the first patient at Evelina London to have this ground-breaking eye gene therapy. 

MeiraGTx have recently partnered with J&J Innovative Medicine to take their first ophthalmology gene therapy to market. These spinouts demonstrate the powerful impact of UCL’s research and innovation ecosystem, supported by UCLB’s technology transfer expertise. With some impressive breakthroughs and significant funding, let’s hope we’re getting closer to breakthroughs that could preserve and restore vision for millions globally.   

Happy World Sight Day!