STAT+: In race to make gene therapy for age-related blindness, 4D Molecular announces positive results

A long-running race to develop a gene therapy for the most common cause of age-related blindness is heating up.

On Wednesday, 4D Molecular Therapeutics announced new data from its program for the disease, known as wet age-related macular degeneration, or wet-AMD. In one 30-person Phase 2 study, patients’ need for standard-of-care injections fell by 89% after receiving gene therapy, and 73% did not need another standard-of-care shot for at least 32 weeks. 

Notably, only two of 71 dosed patients have shown signs of ocular inflammation, 4D said. In 2021, another leading contender, Adverum, was set back after a patient with a related disease went blind in one eye. 

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