Iveena Delivery Systems Inc. has been awarded a $2 million phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Eye Institute (NEI) to advance the development of novel topical eye drops to control pediatric myopia and other refractive disorders.

Axovia Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded a new $1.0 million grant by the nonprofit organization A Race Against Blindness to support the clinical development of AXV-101, an investigational gene therapy aimed at combating childhood blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa caused by Bardet-Biedl syndrome 1 (BBS1).

At the 12th Aging Research & Drug Discovery (ARDD) Meeting, which is being held this week in Copenhagen, Life Biosciences Inc. announced that it is developing its partial epigenetic reprogramming technology for liver disease as well as optic neuropathies. The company’s chief scientific officer Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson estimated that its ER-100 would enter clinical trials in early 2026, putting it on track to be the first application of partial epigenetic reprogramming to enter the clinic.

Opus Genetics Inc. has obtained IND clearance from the U.S. FDA application for OPGx-BEST1, a gene therapy for the treatment of bestrophin-1 (BEST1)-related inherited retinal disease (IRD).

Valitor Inc. has presented preclinical results on VLTR-559, its long-acting anti-VEGF biologic candidate for durable wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). VLTR-559, developed using Valitor’s proprietary Multivalent Polymer (MVP) technology, demonstrated prolonged ocular retention and maintained high potency even after months in ocular tissues.

Ischemic retinopathy refers to a group of ocular disorders characterized by insufficient retinal blood flow, leading to hypoxia and subsequent retinal tissue damage. In the hypoxic environment, hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) activates the transcription of pro-angiogenic factors that promote pathological retinal neovascularization, which ultimately contributes to edema, retinal damage and vision loss.