StemCell Therapy

The Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) was established in 1971 by a passionate group of families driven to find treatments and cures for inherited retinal diseases that were affecting their loved ones. At that time, little was known about these blinding retinal degenerative diseases. Very little research was being done, and there were no clinical trials for potential treatments.

The Foundations goal was clear and focused: To drive the research that would lead to preventions, treatments, and vision restoration for the spectrum of degenerative retinal diseases, specifically macular degeneration including age related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease and Leber congenital amurosis (LCA). Together these conditions affect more than 10 million Americans and millions more throughout the world.

Today, the Foundation Fighting Blindness is the worlds leading private funder of retinal disease research. That funding has been a driving force behind the progress toward cures, including the identification of more than 250 genes linked to retinal disease, and the launch of 20 clinical trials for potential treatments.

On an annual basis, the Foundation Fighting Blindness and the Foundations Clinical Research Institute fund more than 100 research grants. The research projects are conducted by more than 150 research investigators at institutions, eye hospitals, and universities in the United States, Australia, England, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Israel, and Mexico.

More about the Foundation Fighting Blindness

More Information about Retinal Degenerative Diseases

Support our Mission

To Support the Foundations mission through a personal donation (Donate button) or to include the Foundation in your estate planning go to:http://myplantofightblindness.org/

Additional Resources

FFB Annual Reports FFB Board of Directors FFB Senior Staff

Leading retinal research scientists praise the advances enabled by the Foundation.

FFB is an extraordinary organization. It has given hope to people who didnt previously have hope, and it has supported the most important fundamental research in the retinal degenerations being carried out anywhere in the world today. Thanks to FFB, I have confidence that we will understand and be able to successfully treat many of these (retinal degenerative) diseases in the relatively near future... we are on the verge of human clinical trials and that would not have happened without the support of the FFB.

This incredible flowering of knowledgewas nursed into existence by the Foundation Fighting BlindnessIf you were to take the thousand most important papers published in the past 15 years in the field of inherited retinal diseases, you would find that over 900 have authors supported by this Foundation.

The Foundation has given a sense of hope to the families that are affected. Theyve pulled in scientists like me and others to be interested in the problems and apply our knowledgeits a proactive thing. The Foundation says we need this problem solved, how do we do it. There is no other foundation as focused as this one on these problems.

The Foundation, existing as an independent private entity, is able to very quickly fund young investigators and fund new and exciting projects. The Foundation has really played a major role in getting a number of important projects off the ground, which would not have happened without its support. The Foundation Fighting Blindness has stimulated interaction and collaboration between different scientific groups and centers, and it has funded a variety of research meetings that have helped scientists learn about areas outside their own, so they can do more productive and more powerful research.

The Foundation Fighting Blindness has played a tremendous role in my development as an ophthalmologist and scientist and in the growing of our program. The Foundation has gathered together scientists from all over the world who are interested in a similar thing: to try to cure these diseasesPeople have to say, yes Im interested in helping this year, and Im interested in helping next year because it just isnt Ok for a child to be born missing one gene product in their retina. The Foundation has been a kind of antenna conveying the resources from society to the scientist and they have done a very successful job of it.

For more information, please contact the Foundation at: 7168 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 100 Columbia, MD 21046 800-683-5555 800-683-5551 TDD info@FFB.org

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