UCL to accelerate bringing stem cell therapies to clinic

UCL's Professor Pete Coffey is the joint leader of a major project to bring stem cell treatment to the point of clinical trial. Professor Coffey, of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the UCL Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, will be the UK leader of a £2.4 million study  addressing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - a leading cause of blindness among elderly people. The project has been funded as part of an international collaboration between the Medical Research Council and the Californian Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Professor Mark Humayun at the University of Southern California will lead the research in the United States. The initiative has brought leading researchers together to add momentum to the development of stem cell treatments that can eventually be used in the clinic. The first programme to emerge from this enterprise will be expected to begin Phase I clinical trials within four years. Professor Coffey said: 'Age-related macular degeneration is a leading cause of irreversible vision-loss, and it is estimated that over 710,000 people in the UK will suffer from AMD with severe vision impairment by 2020.