A simulation from the Neitz lab of what colorblindness looks like, with normal color vision on the left and red-green colorblindness on the right. Courtesy of Neitz Laboratory hide caption <\/p>\n
A simulation from the Neitz lab of what colorblindness looks like, with normal color vision on the left and red-green colorblindness on the right. <\/p>\n
More than 10 million Americans have trouble distinguishing red from green or blue from yellow, and there's no treatment for colorblindness. <\/p>\n
A biotech company and two scientists hope to change that. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Avalanche Biotechnologies in Menlo Park and the University of Washington in Seattle announced a licensing agreement to develop the first treatment for colorblindness. The deal brings together a gene therapy technique developed by Avalanche with the expertise of vision researchers at the University of Washington. <\/p>\n
\"Our goal is to be treating colorblindness in clinical trials in patients in the next one to two years,\" says Thomas Chalberg, the founder and CEO of Avalanche. <\/p>\n
Dalton the squirrel monkey during the color vision test. Courtesy of Neitz Laboratory hide caption <\/p>\n
Dalton the squirrel monkey during the color vision test. <\/p>\n
The agreement has its roots in a scientific breakthrough that occurred six years ago. That's when two vision researchers at the University of Washington used gene therapy to cure a common form of colorblindness in squirrel monkeys. <\/p>\n
\"This opened the possibility of ultimately getting this to cure colorblindness in humans,\" says Jay Neitz, who runs the Color Vision Lab at UW along with his wife, Maureen Neitz. <\/p>\n
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University And Biotech Firm Team Up On Colorblindness Therapy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A simulation from the Neitz lab of what colorblindness looks like, with normal color vision on the left and red-green colorblindness on the right. Courtesy of Neitz Laboratory hide caption A simulation from the Neitz lab of what colorblindness looks like, with normal color vision on the left and red-green colorblindness on the right Continue reading