Eyes on the prize
In mid-June, Newark, California–based StemCells, Inc. announced interim results of its ongoing Phase 1/2 trial for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration, a form of progressive blindness common in the elderly. Seven patients with advanced disease who had been dosed with the experimental therapeutic—multipotent neural stem cells derived from fetal brain tissue—showed slowed retinal atrophy at one year post-transplant, and four had not just stabilized but improved visual function, the company reported. The announcement is the latest in a series of promising developments in the area of cell-based therapeutics for blindness… Read more at The Scientist.
Biotechnically Speaking 