Overcoming a Delivery Challenge of Retinal Gene Therapies

One of the challenges of delivering gene therapies to the eye is that once a subretinal injection is made, the therapy’s distribution is confined to the margins of the pocket of fluid that is created, known as a bleb. Atsena, which is developing gene therapies for X-linked retinoschisis and Leber congenital amaurosis 1, uses its AAV.SPR technology that allows the gene therapy to spread laterally after injection. We spoke to Patrick Ritschel, CEO of Atsena Therapeutics, about the challenges of gene therapies for inherited retinal diseases, how the company’s unique vector technology addresses this, and how it allows for safer and more effective delivery of gene therapies to the retina.