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Eye Disease Research Update

2003

North East CARE has been established by medical scientists at the Universities of Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne, to carry out research of international excellence on the major causes of visual impairment and blindness in later life, and to use advances in knowledge to develop new treatments and interventions to prevent these conditions

2001

Recent articles in the national press have reported major funding of further research into Age Related Macular Degeneration. The articles have included references to trials and retinal cell transplants. This update sheet will hopefully explain more fully the facts that we have at the moment.

£30 million has been made available to help research into Age Related Macular Degeneration and ocular diseases including glaucoma, retinopathies and retinitis pigmentosa.£8.8 million has been provided by Fight for Sight to fund buildings, equipment and salaries. Glaxo Smith Kline and the government are also reported as having provided funding, although at this stage the respective amounts are not known.

The research will be undertaken at the Institute of Ophthalmology in London. The institute has recruited 26 international scientists, among them Professor Gary Rubin from the Johns Hopkins Institute, and he will be taking up the newly created Helen Keller Chair of Visual Rehabilitation. Obviously his research will be concentrating on the optimisation of capabilities among sufferers from eye diseases. Glaxo Smith Kline will support a new chair in ocular immunology, which is to be taken up by Professor Santa Ono.

The other scientists will be working together on various projects to enable them to understand the causes of eye diseases, and ways of slowing down the progression of the disease.

At present, although there are treatments for certain- types of wet AMD (laser treatment and photodynamic therapy) and methods of reducing the risks of developing AMD (the AREDS study), there are at present no methods of curing the condition. Specific areas of research of interest to AMD sufferers include cell transplantation and gene therapy, however both of these are still at the laboratory stage.

The next stage will be to obtain the appropriate ethical and safety approvals to enable research to proceed. Some important research has already been done on an animal model of retinal degeneration, which has been broadly linked to AMD. Several kinds of similar scientific advances offer the possibility of clinical trials within the next 2-5 years, and The Macular Disease Society will provide further details as they become known.