NurExone reports retinal responses in rats after optic nerve injury
Published in Brain/Neurology, Diseases!, Drugs development & discovery.
Publication date: October 10, 2026.
NurExone Biologic announced on October 9 new animal-study findings for its exosome-based candidate ExoPTEN following optic nerve injury. The work, conducted with researchers at Sheba Medical Center’s Goldschleger Eye Institute, supports planning additional experiments in a larger eye model.
Researchers used rats with a deliberately crushed optic nerve and compared untreated injury controls receiving saline with naïve exosomes or ExoPTEN. Electroretinography measured the retina’s electrical response to light. At the higher light intensity tested, ExoPTEN-treated eyes showed a statistically significant improvement over saline-treated injured eyes (p = 0.04). The release reports no statistically significant difference between ExoPTEN and naïve exosomes.
The company proposes a rabbit study to investigate delivery, dosing, tolerability and safety. Its initiation still depends on protocol development, funding and required approvals.
These are company-reported preclinical findings, not evidence that vision has been restored in people. The rat injury model does not capture every feature of human glaucoma, and an electrical retinal response does not by itself establish recovery of useful vision. ExoPTEN remains investigational and has no regulatory approval for treating optic nerve injury.
Source: NurExone press release via GlobeNewswire, October 9, 2026.