27/07/2025
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People with macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel)—a rare eye disease that blurs central vision—haven’t had any approved treatment options until now. In a huge win for patients, the FDA just approved ENCELTO, the first-ever therapy for this condition. This tiny device is surgically placed in the eye and steadily pumps out a protective protein called CNTF, which helps keep retinal cells alive and slows the disease from getting worse. It’s the first time a cell-based implant delivering a neuroprotectant has ever been approved to treat a neurodegenerative disease.
Developed by Neurotech Pharmaceuticals with key research from Scripps and the Lowy Medical Research Institute, ENCELTO is a collagen capsule filled with specially engineered cells. Once inside the eye, it quietly releases CNTF over years. Early studies showed that even after 14.5 years, these implants were still producing strong levels of CNTF. In two major clinical trials, ENCELTO clearly slowed down the loss of retinal cells over 24 months—giving patients hope to hold onto precious reading, driving, and face-recognition vision longer.
MacTel was once thought to be just a blood vessel issue, but scientists led by Dr. Martin Friedlander at Scripps discovered it’s actually a slow loss of the retina’s light-sensing cells. Their early gene therapy work paved the way for ENCELTO’s design. Now researchers hope to adapt this implant to treat other conditions like glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. It could even hint at new ways to fight brain diseases since the retina is part of our nervous system. This approval is not just a victory for patients—it’s a powerful example of decades of teamwork finally paying off
