Stem Cells Treat Macular Degeneration in Rats
Filed in archive Diagnostics, Methodologies and Instrumentation , Drugs, Vaccines and Therapeutics , Stem Cells on September 23, 2006
Advance Cell Technology, the biotech firm who has recently announced having successfully generated embryonic stem cell lines without destroying the embryos, now says it has used human embryonic stem cells to treat eye disorders in rats.
"We have developed a technology that we hope can be used to treat degenerative eye diseases such as macular degeneration," said Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts, who led the study.
"We have demonstrated that these human embryonic-stem-cell-derived cells can rescue visual function in animals that otherwise would have gone blind," Lanza said in an e-mail.
In another report, ACT medical director Robert Lanza says they intend to seek permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next year to use stem cells to treat people with macular degeneration, and estimates that it could take a couple of years or more before it could be confirmed whether this technology may indeed work in humans.
[Photo: ACT]

"We have demonstrated that these human embryonic-stem-cell-derived cells can rescue visual function in animals that otherwise would have gone blind," Lanza said in an e-mail.
Tags: stem+cells stemcells macular+degeneration eye+disease blindness stem cells+treat
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Response from:
Chaitanya
(09/25/06 1:26pm)
Hey surely this discovery is a great one, but can we think of applying this to humans, to treat eye disorders in humans?
Response from:
Paul
(09/26/06 7:27pm)
I'm sorry I don't have the details but if I'm not mistaken some work of this nature was being tried in humans we some sucess in India. However, this was quite a few years ago and I don't have the references for it but I'm certain if you go to medline or pubmed you could probably find a few papers on it.
Response from:
Macular Degeneration Support Canada
(04/21/09 11:29am)
I believe that Pfizer has just announced that it will be releasing a stem cell treatment for macular degeneration. Is there an update on this?
Response from:
Macular Degeneration Support Canada
(04/21/09 11:31am)
I believe that Pfizer has just announced it will be releasing a stem cell treatment for macular degeneration. Is there an update on this development?
Macular Degeneration Support Canada
http://www.amdsupport.ca
Macular Degeneration Support Canada
http://www.amdsupport.ca
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