The Foundation Makes an Impact on Retinal Research

The Foundation has played a major role in the development of 88% of treatments in clinical trials for the leading retinal diseases.

89% of the recipients who have received a Career Development Award from the Foundation have continued working in the retinal disease field.

Later-stage funding from the Foundation has resulted in 14 programs entering a clinical stage.

Foundation-funded projects have developed 35% of the large non-rodent animal models to help better understand the cause of blinding retinal diseases.

More than 10% of people with blinding diseases are registered in the Foundation’s My Retina Tracker^® Registry – the largest retinal disease patient database connecting people to relevant clinical trials.

Since 2005, projects funded by the Foundation have helped to identify 40% of the genes that cause blinding diseases.

Since 2005, the Foundation has awarded 440 grants for retinal disease research to 227 individuals, resulting in more than 12,000 published research articles.

Providing free genetic testing has increased the number and diversity of people with a blinding disease who know their genetic mutation.

Foundation-led natural history studies have helped to identify additional measures used to determine the success of clinical trials – including one that led to the first FDA-approved gene therapy for the eye or any inherited disease, LUXTURNA^TM.

Foundation-sponsored research and clinical trial studies were instrumental in identifying key measures used to inform clinical trial designs.

The advancement of optogenetics has been guided by investments of the Foundation and the RD Fund.