Fight for Sight comments on retinal stem cell trial at Moorfields Eye Hospital

Media Contact: Lizzie Webster
Telephone: 0207 264 9004
Email address: lizzie@fightforsight.org.uk

8th December 2011
Commenting on the news that a clinical trial using retinal cells derived from embryonic stem cells are to be tested in patients with Stargardt’s disease at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, Dr Dolores Conroy, Director of Research at Fight for Sight said: “This experimental new treatment represents a real breakthrough for the medical research community. Not only is it the first clinical trial using human embryonic stem cell based therapy to be approved outside the US, but it also offers a ray of hope to hundreds of young people suffering from a currently untreatable inherited eye condition: Stargardt’s disease.
“Stargardt’s disease is a form of macular degeneration and is an irreversible condition which affects the eyes progressively from birth. It causes blurred vision and difficultly seeing in dim light. It can also lead to problems with colour vision and can eventually lead to blindness.
“If this forthcoming trial, which has been developed by the US biotechnology company, ACT and will be led by Professor James Bainbridge at Moorfields Eye Hospital, demonstrates safety and tolerability, a similar cell-based therapy could also be used to treat other inherited eye diseases and age-related macular degeneration.
“The news that people with blinding disorders of the retina might benefit in the future from transplantation of retinal cells is a development which could potentially change the lives of hundreds of people in the UK living with visual impairment, as well as those of generations to come.”

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Notes to Editors:
1. For more information, please contact Lizzie Webster, Media and Communications Officer at Fight for Sight on 0207 264 9004 or at liize@fightforsight.org.uk
2. Fight for Sight is the UK’s leading charity dedicated to funding world-class research into the prevention and treatment of blindness and eye disease.
3. Fight for Sight is committed to tackling inherited eye conditions including Stargardt’s disease. The charity is currently funding research into a gene replacement therapy for this disease led by Professor Robert MacLaren and his team at the University of Oxford.
4. Fight for Sight is funding research at leading universities and hospitals throughout the UK. Major achievements to date include:
• saving the sight of thousands of premature babies through understanding and controlling levels of oxygen delivery
• restoring sight by establishing the UK Corneal Transplant Service enabling over 48,000 corneal transplants to take place
• revolutionising the treatment for children with amblyopia (lazy eye)
• bringing hope to children with inherited eye disease by helping to fund the team responsible for the world’s first gene therapy clinical trial
• providing £1million for the research unit at the dedicated children’s eye centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital
5. Fight for Sight’s current research programme is focusing on preventing and treating age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and cataract. We are also funding research into the causes of childhood blindness and a large number of rare eye diseases.
6. Funding from Fight for Sight through the Tommy Salisbury Choroideremia Fund have supported research into another inherited eye disease, choroideremia, at Imperial College London that has been vital in getting the first gene replacement trial for this condition underway.