How gene-therapy treated mice in space may help shape the science of vision loss diseases

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel. But this mission is quite real–and could impact millions of patients who suffer from vision loss.

This week, biotech Oculogenex landed an early, but essential, endorsement from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the company’s CEO and founder Hema Ramkumar told Fast Company, for a therapy to treat an eye-wasting disease that’s the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in elderly Americans. The regulatory milestone isn’t an approval for the drug itself, but a significant “go-ahead” in the minutiae of how any drug is developed that stands on its own merits. It’s an endorsement of Oculogenex’s strategy for a planned mid-stage clinical trial in intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD).