Three patients lose vision after unregulated stem cell treatment

Three patients have developed severe vision loss in both eyes after undergoing intravitrial stem cell injections for age related macular degeneration (AMD) at a US clinic, a paper reviewing the cases has reported.1 The review authors have called for greater oversight of procedures using stem cells and the clinics providing these treatments and highlighted the need to increase public awareness of the “possibility of devastating outcomes” with unregulated treatment.

Several clinical trials are currently investigating the delivery of human retinal cells obtained from pluripotent stem cells to replace damaged cells. These trials are all …