Pioneering eye treatment to be tested

Friday September 23rd, 2011

A hospital in London, UK, has been given the go-ahead to begin pioneering stem cell treatment trials for the retina of the eye.

Scientists at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, hope it will eventually lead to a new treatment for advanced Stargardt disease, an untreatable inherited eye condition that causes sight loss in young people.

“There is real potential that people with blinding disorders of the retina, including Stargardt disease and age-related macular degeneration, might benefit in the future from transplantation of retinal cells,” says retinal surgeon Professor James Bainbridge. He will be conducting the trials at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre based at Moorfields and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.

He and his team will investigate the safety of injecting retinal cells derived from stem cells into the retina after the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) gave the green light to the trials yesterday.

“The ability to regenerate retinal cells from stem cells in the laboratory has been a significant advance and the opportunity to help translate such technology into new treatments for patients is hugely exciting,” said Prof Bainbridge.

“Testing the safety of retinal cell transplantation in this clinical trial will be an important step towards achieving this aim.”

“We are delighted to be the site for these very exciting new clinical trials in stem cell therapy, which have the potential to give hope and make such a difference to the lives of people with currently untreatable blinding retinal conditions,” added Professor Peng Khaw, director of the biomedical research centre at Moorfields.

The technology has been developed by US company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), which was given permission to run similar trials in the United States in November 2010.

Tags: Eye Health | UK News

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