A partnership of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology and the National Institute for Health Research published a clinical study in Nature Biotechnology [1] describing the implantation of an engineered patch of stem cells to treat people with severe sight loss from wet-type macular degeneration (AMD).
The people most at risk for AMD are usually over 50 years of age. AMD affects central vision and in the wet type of the disease, abnormal blood vessels bleed or leak causing loss of central vision. Learn more about AMD: Canadian Ophthalmological Society
Patients in the study reported improvement in their vision over a 12-month monitoring period. After the procedure, patients who underwent the procedure went from being unable to read (even with glasses) at all to reading 60 to 80 words per minute with normal reading glasses.
Original Journal Article: Phase 1 clinical study of an embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium patch in age-related macular degeneration. Nature Biotechnology
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