NIH to bring iPS cell therapy into clinic for dry macular degeneration

Researchers at NIH's National Eye Institute (NEI) developed clinical-grade protocols for producing an autologous induced pluripotent stem cell-derived therapy for dry age-related macular degeneration. NEI plans to use the methods, reported in a Science Translational Medicine paper published Wednesday, in one of the first clinical trials of an iPS cell-derived therapy.

NEI's therapy would constitute subretinal transplantation of a patch of autologous iPS cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells grown on biodegradable scaffolds. RPE cell death causes dry AMD because the cells help maintain photoreceptor cell health...