Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and Reliance Life Sciences Pvt Ltd signed a major Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday to license gene therapy. The therapy can potentially revolutionise the field, especially in treating several genetic eye diseases. IIT introduced a technology related to gene therapy Genetic disorders cause many eye diseases, and gene therapy has the potential to cure them. This is for the very first time in India that an academic institution gave a company a technology related to gene therapy. Patented technology will treat a genetic disorderThe Technology Licensing Agreement was sealed on Friday between IIT Kanpur and Reliance Life Sciences Pvt Ltd. The patented technology developed by Jayandharan Giridhar Rao and Shubham Maurya modifies an organisms gene to treat a genetic disorder. The technique modifies the locus to optimise its ability to deliver genes to affected cells and improve its effectiveness. Correcting vision defects in animal trialsThe technology could improve gene therapy for many hereditary diseases, particularly genetic eye diseases. The technique has shown significant results in correcting vision defects in animal trials.Director of IIT Kanpur, Abhay Karandikar, is pleased to transfer gene therapy technology to Reliance Life Sciences to develop impactful technologies in healthcare. Gene therapy using viral vectors is a powerful modality in medicine that can treat a range of genetic eye diseases. IIT Kanpur aims to develop more impactful technologiesIIT Kanpur will develop more technologies for genetic disorders and has established the Mehta Family Center for Engineering in Medicine to continue research in this area.Gene therapy has the potential to fix faulty genes using recombinant DNA, one of the most powerful applications of technology, in which fragments of DNA from multiple sources are efficiently combined to deliver a healthy copy of the defective gene. The therapeutic DNA molecule is delivered using a virus that can infect human cells to enable this. Several optimisations of the original procedure are required for successful clinical use to ensure adequate expression of the desired gene.Conclusion The potential of this technology for treating other genetic disorders is enormous, and many researchers are working on similar technologies for other diseases. This collaboration between academia and industry is a significant step in making this technology available to the public.
