Tanoto Foundation gives S$1m to Singapore National Eye Centre to Combat Age Related Macular Degeneration

• Tanoto Foundation donation will advance gene therapy research to fight eye diseases that are a leading cause of vision loss

• This disease affects 200 million people worldwide and 5 out of 100 people in Singapore; number of cases expected to rise as Singapore’s population ages

SINGAPORE – Media Awareness – September 8, 2023 –
The Tanoto Foundation today announced a donation of S$1 million to the Singapore National Eye Center (SNEC) to support a three-year gene therapy research program to combat age-related macular degeneration ( AMD), a chronic and irreversible eye disease that affects 200 people. million people around the world. Due to an aging population and longer lifespans, this number is expected to reach 240 million by 2030.

AMD can cause vision loss due to damage to the macula, or central part of the retina, and is a leading cause of blindness in people over 50. This condition is more prevalent in countries with aging populations, such as Singapore, where around one in four citizens will be over 65 by 2030.

There are two forms of AMD, early and late. The early form of AMD does not immediately threaten sight, but the late neovascular form of AMD (AMD), characterized by abnormal growth of blood vessels that can lead to bleeding or swelling, is responsible for 90% of blindness cases in cases of AMD. In Singapore, the prevalence of AMD is estimated at around 5.1% (five in 100 individuals) for early AMD and one in 200 individuals for later AMD, after the age of 40.

The research program, which will be funded by the Tanoto Foundation and led by scientists from SNEC and the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), will focus on developing new gene therapies to fight AMD. Gene therapy is broadly defined as a therapeutic technique aimed at modifying a patient’s genes to treat or cure a disease. It may work by replacing or inactivating faulty genes.

Imelda Tanoto, Board Member of the Tanoto Foundation, said: “We recognize that in older people, vision, which has a significant impact on mobility, affects quality of life. With a long-standing commitment to supporting medical research, particularly in Asian countries. diseases, we also tap into Singapore’s quality healthcare and research ecosystem to build meaningful partnerships and pilot medical innovations adaptable to the region. Our partnership with SNEC to advance gene therapy research is an excellent example of this.

Since 2009, the Tanoto Foundation has contributed over S$20 million to research and advocacy for various treatments for major health conditions, such as cardiology, oncology and diabetes.

Professor Aung Tin, CEO of SNEC, said: “We are grateful for the support of the Tanoto Foundation to advance research on the use of gene therapy to treat AMD. This disease is a major cause of vision loss, leading to significant economic and health costs. “The number of people affected by AMD is increasing rapidly, in part due to our aging population. The support of the Tanoto Foundation will help us design promising new gene therapies, which can potentially reduce the number of treatments required per year for AMD patients and can help improve their quality of life.”

Current treatments take the form of regular, often lifelong, injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents into the eye, given on average every two to three months. The overall health care burden in the United States for AMD is estimated at US$4.6 billion. This burden is also comparable to other first world nations like Singapore. By introducing a new gene into the body to induce its own cells to produce therapeutic agents, this gene therapy research program has the potential to dramatically reduce the number of injections a patient may need to fight AMD, because this treatment will be long lasting. If the research proves successful, it could potentially be extended to other retinal diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and retinal vessel occlusion.

The research team includes clinicians and scientists from SNEC/SERI, the Genome Institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Singapore, and the Vision Research Center from Duke-NUS Medical School. This clinician-researcher collaboration is a testament to the strong collaborative efforts underway to translate new therapies from the bench to the bedside.

Hashtag: #TanotoFoundation

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.