ReNeuron storms on 'exciting' eye disease trial success

The cell-based therapeutics specialist currently carrying out a US-based phase I/II clinical on people with the disease, and reported that the first three patients in a group taking part in the phase II portion of the study were able on average able to read an additional three lines of on the standard ETDRS eye chart after receiving treatment.

The trial's principal investigator, Jason Comander, associate director of Inherited Retinal Disorders Service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said: "It is exciting to move into a population of patients whose remaining vision and retinal architecture support the possibility of visual improvement and I am very much looking forward to obtaining additional results from this patient cohort and the next."

The treatment being trialled involves the use human retinal progenitor cells developed by ReNeuron, which were shown to have the potential to preserve existing photoreceptors found in the retina during pre-clinical trials.

The AIM traded company said that these progenitor cells have been shown to mature into functional photoreceptors that could then help restore sight.

Olav Hellebø, chief executive of ReNeuron, said: "We are excited by both the speed and extent of improvement observed in this first patient cohort in the Phase II part of the ongoing Phase I/II study with our hRPC cell therapy candidate in retinitis pigmentosa. We will continue to generate further data to assess durability of effect and efficacy in a larger number of patients in the months ahead."

ReNeuron Group's shares were up 14.74% at 54.50p at 1102 GMT.