A London eye hospital is to collaborate on a medical device to treat wet age-related macular degeneration(AMD).
The joint venture is between Moorfields Eye Hospital and Salutaris Medical Devices Ltd.
The device allows retinal specialists to administer "high precision localised radiation therapy" to the back of a patient's eyes to stem vision loss.
Wet AMD
Approximately 26,000 new cases of wet AMD occur in the UK each year. Wet AMD is caused by abnormal blood vessels growing under the retina. The device allows a form of radiation called brachytherapy. This avoids the need for more invasive surgery.
The device is designed as a practical, clinic-based procedure and has been tested in a small phase one safety trial in the United States.
Peng Khaw, Director of Research and Development at the hospital said: "One of the attractions of this application is the way it enables the treatment to be administered in a non-invasive way, without the need for complex expensive equipment."
Work is scheduled to begin the setting up of a phase one clinical study in the UK this year.
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Article published in NB magazine March 2013.