A pioneering trial has treated the first age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patient who was suffering from blindness with a revolutionary treatment co-developed by Pfizer.
Advertisement
“If the AMD trials are successful, then by using embryonic stem cells as the starting material, the therapy can then be affordably manufactured at large scale”. The woman, 60, had a wet AMD described to be uncommon but aggressive. Although it can develop at any time, macular degeneration occurs usually during old age, specifically when men and women are already 50 years old and above.
Ten patients with the wet form of AMD will undergo the procedure.
Clara Eaglen, from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, said: “We are hopeful that stem cell technology will significantly change the way in which people with sight loss are treated over the next decade.”It is early days yet but this development does show that stem cells can be successfully transplanted into the eye, which is a great step forward”.
In the new technique, a stem cell from an embryo is grown in the lab to create a single layer of retinal pigment epithelium cells.
What is age-related macular degeneration?
Specialists at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital said the use, considered “highly effective”, was the 1st of 10 fuzzy members of a trial of the procedure to produce a disorder identified as “wet” destructive cell macular weakening (Intel and amd).
Patients with AMD lose their central vision, which becomes distorted and blurred. These embryos came from in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics that have never been utilized and have been donated.
It affects more than 600,000 adults in the United Kingdom, blighting the lives of a quarter of the over-60s.
Lyndon da Cruz called their surgery as a truly regenerative project as it was totally impossible to replace those lost neural cells in past.
“If we can deliver the very layer of cells that is missing and give them their function back this would be of enormous benefit to people with the sight-threatening condition”. The trial began with patients with wet AMD because there is potential to restore their sight faster following sudden vision loss. Initial results from the first patient, on whether any vision has been restored, should be available by the end of the year.
In 2012, patients with Stargardt’s disease – which leads to progression deterioration of vision – were injected with embryonic stem cells in a safety trial carried out in the U.S. and United Kingdom – which also involved a team at Moorfields.
“This has the potential to be a treatment rather than being theoretical proof”.
Advertisement
Stem nuerons would be the entire body’s guru nuerons, the very source of remaining mitochondria. The US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer joined in 2009.
