The first patient has undergone surgery at London Moorfields Eye Hospital as part of the London Project to Cure Blindness, a clinical trial using human embryo stem cells in an attempt to treat people suffering from ARMD (Age-Related Macular Degeneration – a condition that gradually causes blindness). The treatment was developed jointly with Pfizer and aims to find a solution to this degenerative disease.
The operation is the first in a series of ten programmes for this phase 1 clinical trial intended to test the efficacy and safety of transplanting retina cells created in the laboratory from human embryo stem cells.
Another clinical trial focusing on the same cells is underway in Israel (Cf. Gènéthique du 03 septembre 2015).
Reuters (29/09/2015)