Eye Implants to Fight Progressive Blindness
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Date posted: 11/09/2008
Posted by: Site Administration
This story is from the category
 Sensors

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fast-tracked a novel treatment for two eye diseases: age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. The treatment, developed by the Lincoln, RI, biotech company Neurotech, is a capsule that's surgically implanted in the eye. Inside the capsule are genetically engineered cells that produce a protein that may prevent light-sensitive cells in the retina from dying--thereby protecting vision.



Credit: Neurotech



Patients with these diseases currently have few or no treatment options. To date, no drugs or devices have been approved for retinitis pigmentosa or for dry AMD.

Neurotech's device is implanted in a part of the eye called the vitreous humor, a transparent gel that lies between the lens in front and the retina in back. The capsule is made of a semipermeable plastic, which allows the protein produced by the genetically engineered cells to diffuse into the retina. In animal studies, the protein--ciliary neurotrophic factor, or CNTF--slowed the degeneration of retinal cells in diseases analogous to retinitis pigmentosa. According to Weng Tao, chief scientific officer of Neurotech, there's even evidence that CNTF could promote retinal regeneration.

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