347: eye gene therapy could bring hope to thousands

Thanks to what sounds like an important medical breakthrough, a cure for several forms of blindness could be in sight. Today's linked article, from the UK's Daily Mail newspaper, reports that a new therapy - which involves injecting genetic material into the retina - has restored the sight of three new patients, following one other successful operation on a UK teenager earlier this year. So far, all those treated had an inherited condition called Leber's congenital amaurosis, which was previously untreatable. But the US scientists developing the gene therapy believe they'll be able to treat other inherited conditions within two years and age-related macular degeneration within five years. In Britain alone, this means the new therapy could restore sight to hundreds of thousands of people. An amazing thought.