The urgent mission of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) is to drive the research that will provide preventions, treatments and cures for people affected by retinitis pigmentosa (RP), macular degeneration, Usher Syndrome, and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases. Since its inception in 1971, The Foundation has raised over $500 million and funded thousands of research studies at hundreds of prominent institutions. The FFB funds leading-edge research in promising areas such as genetics, gene therapy, retinal cell transplantation, artificial retinal implants, and pharmaceutical and nutritional therapies.