Late last month, the Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF) was gifted its largest-ever single donation of $5 million to support the launch of a new endeavor: the Treatment Accelerator Initiative.
First, a GRF refresh.
This national nonprofit organization has operated for nearly 50 years with one goal: finding a cure for glaucoma.
How it’s doing this: By funding research, investing in high-risk / high-reward research projects, as well as providing high-quality materials and education resources for the eyecare community and its patients.
- Case in point: Check out this 2024 coverage on GRF awarding $2.5 million in grants—its largest annual research budget to date—to support two research initiatives within its flagship program (Catalyst for a Cure).
- This program involves neuroscientists and glaucoma specialists studying glaucoma to identify better treatments and accelerate the path to vision restoration or a cure.
Now to this latest grant.
The $5 million grant was awarded to (notably, not from) GRF by the John and Daria Barry Foundation, a private foundation based in Miami, Florida, that invests in medical research.
- The glaucoma connection: Daria Barry, one of the foundation’s founders, was diagnosed with glaucoma in 2012. “We want to put glaucoma on the map as a serious, neurodegenerative illness and speed up the search for new treatments and cures,” she stated.
As for the funding itself: The $5 million will be disbursed over a 5-year period.
Talk about the initiative it's supporting.
The Treatment Accelerator Initiative (or the Accelerator, as GRF refers to it) is a new program intended to accelerate the development of new glaucoma treatments that preserve and restore sight.
How: By advancing novel therapeutics through the preclinical stage and into phase 1 clinical trials.
- Specifically: The Accelerator was created to provide funding and resources for this advancement and attract venture capital and industry investments for further clinical research and approval.
Why target preclinical funding?
As GRF pointed out, this stage of the clinical development process isn’t just the most critical—“it’s also the phase least likely to receive traditional funding.”
As a result, the development of potentially promising therapeutics may stall and fail to progress from the lab to the clinical trial phase.
Got it. And what has the Accelerator achieved so far?
While these efforts are ongoing, the initiative has included (but are not limited to):
- Funding first-in-human and phase 1 clinical studies
- Working with scientists on the development planning process
- Securing intellectual property to attract investors
Focusing on that funding: The Accelerator has reportedly already funded a clinical endpoints study targeting fast-progressing glaucoma patients.
- Specifically: The study is designed to reduce trial size and duration, ultimately resulting in reduced costs and expedited regulatory approval for therapeutics.
Any other progress updates to note?
Yes! Thanks to the foundation’s contribution, the initiative has also enabled early-stage testing of a potential neuroprotective gene therapy—developed as part of GRF’s Catalyst for a Cure program’s initiatives.
Read up on the Cure Vision Restoration initiative, which is looking to preserve, repair, and rebuild the optic nerve (independent of intraocular pressure [IOP]).
Lastly, what is GRF hoping to accomplish with the Accelerator?
Five key results, including:
- Developing new ways to protect the optic nerve (potentially slowing down or stopping vision loss)
- Providing funding and resources to move scientific discoveries from the early-lab to first-in-human clinical trial stage to demonstrate safety and effectiveness
See here for the full list.