Saudi Arabia Approves New Drug to Treat Hereditary Loss of Sight

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has approved registration of a genetic medicine for the treatment of hereditary loss of sight. (AP)
The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has approved registration of a genetic medicine for the treatment of hereditary loss of sight. (AP)
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Saudi Arabia Approves New Drug to Treat Hereditary Loss of Sight

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has approved registration of a genetic medicine for the treatment of hereditary loss of sight. (AP)
The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has approved registration of a genetic medicine for the treatment of hereditary loss of sight. (AP)

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has approved registration of a genetic medicine for the treatment of hereditary loss of sight that could lead to blindness.

Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec), the revolutionary new treatment, is deemed the first genetic treatment in Saudi Arabia that targets mutations in a specific gene.

Luxturna has been approved for the treatment of adults and children suffering from sight loss due to inherited retinal disorder caused by genetic mutation of the gene "RPE65". The genetic mutation prevents the body from producing a protein that is necessary for vision, hence, leading to sight loss and ultimately to entire loss of vision and blindness.

The SFDA said that the effective substance in the drug is a modified virus containing an active replica of the gene "RPE65". After injecting the substance, this gene is transferred to the retina cells, the layer in the rear part of the eye that identifies light. This enables the retina to produce the protein necessary for vision. The virus used for transferring the gene does not cause any disease to humans.

The SFDA has confirmed that tests have been conducted on the efficacy and safety of Luxturna, based on a third degree clinical study conducted on 31 volunteers. It measured the rate of change and improvement in the patient's ability to track and move in a specific path in different degrees of light. It was noticed that the vision of the patients, who used Luxturna, improved as seen from their ability to move from one place to another and follow a specific route fitted with dim lights.

The most common side effects of Luxturna are eye redness, cataracts, hypertension and sub-retinal residues. Still, the potential benefits of Luxturna outweigh the potential risks.

Luxturna was registered in the US and EU regulatory authorities in late 2018. Accordingly, the SFDA has given it the registration priority through the documentation and bridging program aimed at accelerating the approval of human medicines.



Japan's Space One Kairos Rocket Fails Minutes after Liftoff

The solid-fuel Kairos rocket by Tokyo-based startup Space One is launched at the company's Spaceport Kii launch pad in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture on December 18, 2024. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT
The solid-fuel Kairos rocket by Tokyo-based startup Space One is launched at the company's Spaceport Kii launch pad in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture on December 18, 2024. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT
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Japan's Space One Kairos Rocket Fails Minutes after Liftoff

The solid-fuel Kairos rocket by Tokyo-based startup Space One is launched at the company's Spaceport Kii launch pad in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture on December 18, 2024. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT
The solid-fuel Kairos rocket by Tokyo-based startup Space One is launched at the company's Spaceport Kii launch pad in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture on December 18, 2024. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT

Japan's Space One terminated the flight of its Kairos small rocket shortly after liftoff on Wednesday, marking the end of its second attempt in nine months to become the country's first company to deliver a satellite to space.
It is the latest in a series of recent setbacks for Japanese rocket development, even as the government looks to boost the domestic space industry and is targeting 30 rocket launches annually by the early 2030s, Reuters reported.
Authorities are pushing to make Japan Asia's space transportation hub in what they hope will be an 8 trillion yen ($52 billion) space industry.
The second Kairos flight, which only lasted about 10 minutes, was terminated because "the achievement of its mission would be difficult", Space One said in an email to reporters.
Live images from the local Wakayama prefecture government showed the 18-meter (59 ft) solid-propellant rocket blasting off from Spaceport Kii in western Japan at 11:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) but losing stability in its trajectory as it ascended.
Five small satellites, including one from the Taiwan Space Agency, were on board the rocket headed into sun-synchronous orbit roughly 500 km (311 miles) above the Earth's surface.
Tokyo-based Space One was founded in 2018 by Canon Electronics, IHI's aerospace unit, construction firm Shimizu and a state-backed bank, with the goal of launching 20 small rockets a year by 2029 to capture growing satellite launch demand.
At its debut flight in March, Kairos, carrying a Japanese government satellite, exploded five seconds after launch.
Inappropriate flight settings triggered the rocket's autonomous self-destruct system even though no issues were found in its hardware, Space One later said.
A lack of domestic launch options has seen emerging Japanese space startups such as radar satellite maker iQPS and debris mitigator Astroscale tapping on SpaceX's rideshare missions or leading small rocket provider Rocket Lab .
Recent Japanese rocket projects have also faced other setbacks.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) postponed the debut flight of the new solid-fuel launcher Epsilon S after its engine combustion test failed last month for a second time.
JAXA's larger liquid-propellant rocket H3 also failed at its inaugural launch in March 2023 but has succeeded in three flights this year, winning orders from clients such as French satellite giant Eutelsat.
In 2019, Interstellar Technologies became the first Japanese firm to send a rocket into space without a satellite payload, but its orbital launcher Zero is still under development.