Color blindness prevents over 10 million Americans from accurately distinguishing among certain primary colors, and at present there is no treatment or cure. The genetic disorder stems from a mutation on the X chromosome. Not only can it cause serious complications in everyday life, making tasks such as night driving more difficult, but it can also prevent people from pursuing certain career paths, such as aviation and electrical work.
In early 2015, the medical research startup Avalanche Biotechnologies partnered with the University of Washington to improve upon a new gene therapy technique originally developed by Jay and Maureen Neitz, the lead researchers at the university’s Neitz Color Vision Lab. The couple has dedicated decades to advancing human health, and in 2009, they succeeded in curing color blindness in squirrel monkeys by surgically introducing new genes into the retina cells responsible for facilitating color vision. The team was eager to use their findings to help correct human vision, but the risk associated with their early-stage technique necessitated the development of a nonsurgical approach.
In 2012, Jay and Maureen Neitz met Avalanche founder and then CEO Thomas Chalberg at a scientific conference. Dr. Chalberg’s firm had recently begun to optimize and commercialize a nonsurgical technique allowing for the delivery of genes via injection into the eye’s gelatinous vitreous layer. The three immediately set about collaborating to develop a genetic therapy for color blindness.
