Macular Degeneration clinical trials at UCLA

The purpose of this study is to evaluate change in geographic atrophy (GA) lesion growth of eyes treated with JNJ-81201887 compared to sham control.

RGX-314 is being developed as a novel one-time gene therapy for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). Wet AMD is characterized by loss of vision due to new, leaky blood vessel formation in the retina. Wet AMD is a significant cause of vision loss in the United States, Europe and Japan, with up to 2 million people living with wet AMD in these geographies alone. Current anti-VEGF therapies have significantly changed the landscape for treatment of wet AMD, becoming the standard of care due to their ability to prevent progression of vision loss in the majority of patients. These therapies, however, require life-long intraocular injections, typically repeated every four to 12 weeks in frequency, to maintain efficacy. Due to the burden of treatment, patients often experience a decline in vision with reduced frequency of treatment over time. RGX-314 is being developed as a potential one-time treatment for wet AMD.

This study is for adults 50 years or older who are losing their clear, sharp central vision. Central vision is needed to be able to read and drive a car. They have been diagnosed with dry age-related macular degeneration (called dry AMD). The macula is the center part of the back of the eye that allows you to see fine detail. In an advanced stage of this disease, areas of the macula die (atrophy), resulting in vision loss. This is called geographic atrophy. This study is looking at a new treatment called ASP7317. It is for slowing or reversing atrophy in dry AMD. ASP7317 is a specially created type of cells derived from human stem cells. ASP7317 cells are injected into the macula of the eye while the person is under anesthesia (local or general). An immunosuppressive medicine (tacrolimus) is also taken around the time of injection of the cells to prevent the body from rejecting them. This study looks at how safe ASP7317 is at 3 different dose levels. Researchers want to learn if the different dose levels of ASP7317 work without causing unwanted medical problems. Each of the 3 doses will be given to 2 groups of people. The first group will be those who have severe vision loss. The second group will be those who have moderate vision loss. The doses are low, medium and high numbers of cells. Tacrolimus will be taken by mouth for 34 days, starting around the time of the injection of ASP7317. In addition, medicines to prevent infection will be taken by mouth for up to 4 weeks starting around the time ASP7317 cells are injected. Each week for the first 4 weeks after the ASP7317 cells have been injected, people taking part in the study will visit the clinic so the researchers can make assessments. Then they will visit again, at weeks 6, 8, 12, 16, 26, and 52 (last week of the study). A substudy will be available at some clinics. These clinics will use a special camera that will allow researchers to look at images of the macular atrophy over time.