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Dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an as-yet untreatable eye disease that causes blindness in older adults, made headlines last year when Massachusetts-based biotech Advanced Cell Technology launched a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) trial for the disease, marking only the third hESC trial approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Now, two new trials are set to get underway—one also using hESCs and another that is turning to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), derived from adult skin cells. In addition to the hope the trials provide to the 10 or 15 percent of people older than 65 years affected by dry AMD, the parallel trials should allow scientists to compare the medical potential of the two stem cell types.
“The problem with [human] embryonic ...
