Source: University College London
Date: 5 June 2007
Summary:
The UCL Institute of Ophthalmology is leading a project launched today to develop a therapy that could restore the sight of a quarter of over-60s in the UK. The London Project to Cure AMD (Age-Related Macular Degeneration) will develop a surgical therapy to stabilise and restore vision in people who go blind due to faulty retinal cells. AMD affects around a quarter of people over the age of 60 in the UK, and 14 million people across Europe. The radical approach of the London Project to Cure AMD will involve producing a cell replacement therapy from human embryonic stem cells. Trials using patients’ own cells have proved that this approach can work.
