New drug to treat blindness London (PTI): A ray of hope for millions of visually challenged people worldwide! A new drug to treat common forms of blindness is all set to go for clinical trial. Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed the drug to treat eye diseases affecting the elderly and diabetics, such as age-related muscular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic etinopathy, the British media reported on Friday. The research team, led by Prof Dave Bates and Dr Steve Harper of the varsity's Microvascular Research Laboratories, has identified a novel, naturally occurring form of a compound which inhibits the formation of new blood vessels -- a major cause of the "wet" type of AMD and also diabetic retinopathy. The research has been funded by Britain's leading eye research charity, Fight for Sight. The news of the drug comes just days after scientists in the United States had claimed that a bionic eye which can restore sight to the blind would be available commercially within two years. The second-generation device, current being trialled, consists of three elements. First, a miniature camera worn in a pair of dark glasses, which transmits images to a radio receiver implanted near the patient's eye. This then sends a signal on to a tiny silicon and platinum chip, about four millimetre square, that sits on the retina. The chip's electrodes stimulate the ganglion cells that transmit visual information to the optic nerve and onwards to the brain, which can then construct a visual image. "A plate is seen as a saucer of light, and a knife as a runway of light. It works by building up images like a dot-matrix printer, or pixels on a computer screen," lead researcher Prof Mark Humayun had said.
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