20 Years of CIRM Support for AMD Therapies 🌟

Since 2007, CIRM has supported groundbreaking research to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness worldwide. What started as a discovery-stage project has developed into a promising stem cell therapy currently undergoing clinical trials.

It all started with a SEED grant awarded to David Hinton, MD, at the University of Southern California (USC). This early funding enabled his team, including Mark Humayun, MD, PhD, also from USC, and Dennis Clegg, PhD, of UC Santa Barbara, to explore a novel approach using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to create retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) cells. These RPE cells are essential for supporting retinal cells that detect light and allow us to see.

As the project progressed, CIRM awarded a Disease Team Award to the researchers, allowing them to refine their technology, develop a synthetic membrane layered with RPE cells, and advance to Phase 1 clinical trials. These trials focused on ensuring the safety of the approach and showed early signs of potential benefit for patients.

Recognizing the promise of this therapy, the team transitioned their research to a clinical-stage company, Regenerative Patch Technologies, which received additional CIRM funding to support a Phase 2 trial. This next stage aims to test the therapy’s safety and effectiveness further, bringing it one step closer to patients.

CIRM’s 20-year journey has been about more than funding—it has been about transforming innovative ideas into real-world solutions. This project is just one example of how early investments in discovery research can lead to treatments that can potentially change lives.

Read the full story by visiting our blog, www.blog.cirm.ca.gov