Stem cell treatment for sight loss could be in use by 2012

Published on Sunday 12 April 2009 20:49

A STEM cell treatment for the leading cause of sight loss in older people could be in widespread use within six years, according to researchers.

The Edinburgh Science Festival will later this week hear that scientists want to start patient trials of the treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by 2012.

If the tests prove successful, a treatment could be available four years later.

The work will be discussed at an event looking at drugs to treat people over 65, whose numbers are growing as better health and new treatments mean people are living for longer.

Researchers at University College London are currently working on a treatment using embryonic stem cells to replace the cells lost in the eyes of people with AMD. The condition comes in two forms – known as dry and wet – but treatment currently only exists for the wet form, and this is expensive.

Professor Peter Coffey, from the Institute of Ophthalmology at UCL, said a quarter of population over 65 had AMD.

"There is a carpet of cells at the back of the eye which support the seeing part of the eye, which is the retina.

"That carpet of cells started to degenerate and die, and as a result the person goes blind because the seeing part of the retina no longer has the support that it needs.

"What we are looking at is whether we can put cells back to regenerate that middle layer."

Laboratory tests have so far been encouraging, and the researchers are working towards producing cells suitable for clinical use.

Once regulatory approval is granted, it is hoped a small trial involving about ten patients will begin in 2011-12.

&#149 Drugs Of The Future: Personalised Medicines for the Over-65s is at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on Friday, 17 April.