BLINDNESS CURE HOPE IN 5 YEARS
SCIENTISTS are on the brink of perfecting a miracle cure for blindness.
Experts are using geneticallyengineered tissues which are implanted into the eye and stop age-related vision problems.
The stem cell treatment for macular degeneration has already helped 86-year-old Douglas Waters and an unnamed woman in her 60s.
Both are now able to read after barely being able to see.
Researchers say they will have an off-the-shelf treatment ready within the next five years. The issue affects some 600,000 people in the UK alone.
The study, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, was the result of a partnership between Professor Pete Coffey of University College London and Prof Lyndon da Cruz, a retinal surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
Prof Coffey, from the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, said: “This study represents real progress in regenerative medicine.”
The study probed whether the diseased cells at the back of patients’ eyes could be saved using a stem cell patch. The surgery includes inserting the patch under the retina in each eye.
Cathy Yelf, chief executive of the Macular Society said: “It’s an exciting step along the way and we’re extremely proud to have been able to fund this project in its early days.”