UK scientists devise eye drops for age related blindness

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the commonest cause of blindness in the world

Age-related blindness, one of the commonest causes in the world of loss of sight, could, in the near future, be curable.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham are one step closer to developing an eye drop that could revolutionise treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Macula is a part of the retina; when it is damaged, the central vision is lost.

AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. Its prevalence is increasing dramatically as the population ages and it is estimated that, by 2020, there will be about 200 million people worldwide with the condition. A 2015 study in the Journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research found: “The overall prevalence of AMD in India ranges from 1.4% to 3.1%. The prevalence was lowest in West India (1.4%) and highest in South India (3.1%).”

AMD is currently treated by injections of sight-saving drugs into the eye which must be administered by medical professionals

AMD is currently treated by injections of sight-saving drugs into the eye which must be administered by medical professionals. Scientists led by biochemist Dr Felicity de Cogan, from the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Microbiology and Infection, have invented a method of delivering this injected drug as eye drops.

Laboratory research, published last year in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS), showed that these eye drops have a similar therapeutic effect as the injected drug in rats. Now the Birmingham scientists have taken their research one step further by investigating the effect of the eye drops in the larger eyes of rabbits and pigs, which are more similar to human eyes.

This latest study, also published in IOVS, demonstrates that the eye drops can deliver a therapeutically effective amount of the drugs to the retina of the larger mammalian eye.

The technology behind the eye drops is a cell-penetrating peptide that can deliver the drug to the retina (the back of the eye). The scientists’ pending patents for the eye drops are now owned by US-based company, Macregen Inc, and a team of Birmingham researchers is working with the company to develop a novel range of therapies for AMD and other eye diseases.

The combined team is now expediting proof of concept studies to confirm the validity of the therapeutic approach. Clinical trials will be imminent once these studies are completed, and could start as early as spring 2019.