Oraya Therapeutics receives grant to study wet AMD treatment

Newark, CA-The National Institutes of Health recently awarded a $215,000 Small Business Technology Transfer Grant to Oraya Therapeutics to investigate how its therapy and gold nanoparticles affect the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Irish researchers find potential therapy for wet AMD

Oraya Therapy is low-voltage stereotactic radiotherapy, which uses a robotically positioned, laser-guided energy delivery system coupled with real time eye tracking which enables the precise targeting and dose delivery required for the        intended research study. Under the grant, Oraya will collaborate with researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to develop a novel treatment of wet AMD that uses gold nanoparticles to target neovascular endothelial cells.

The gold nanoparticle will be delivered intravenously and be tagged with a specific protein capable of finding and attaching to diseased lesions in the eye. Researchers will then deliver low-energy X-rays to the targeted nanoparticles to activate them to release micrometer range electrons that blast the diseased cells. Researchers believe there will be little or no damage to the surrounding tissue because the distance traveled by the electrons is so limited.

If the research is successful, it could also provide advancements in treating cancer because tumors could be targeted by nanoparticle