Drug from contraceptive pill offers way to halt blindness

Researchers at University College Cork have found a way to halt a disease that causes blindness by using a drug from the contraceptive pill.

The treatment had been shown to work in mice and was ready for human trials, said Prof Tom Cotter of University College Cork's School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.

A conference in Dublin on Friday will also hear about other research approaches to reverse blindness by using stem cells to grow replacement cells in the back of the eye or retina.

The disease in question is Retinitis Pigmentosa, an inherited degenerative condition that affects at least 1,500 people here, Prof Cotter said. "In RP, the light-detecting cells slowly die and when they disappear the person goes blind."

There are two main approaches at the moment, finding ways to grow replacement cells using advanced biochemistry or identifying drugs that can slow or halt the advance of RP, Prof Cotter said.

"We are using this neuroprotective approach," he said. "We have found a component of the progesterone contraceptive pill that gives a strong, very protective effect. "

Normal vision

He published details of the research last week in PLOS ONE. Untreated mice typically go blind within 25 days, he said.

“We can keep them with normal vision for at least two months when on the drug. It prevents deterioration and we know how it works,” he said. “We don’t know if it works in humans.”

The only way to confirm this is by a human trial. The drug was known to be safe given it had been used for years and he believed there was enough data to argue for a trial, he said.

Prof David Gamm, of the University of Wisconsin, will tell the conference about his work growing light-detecting cells using stem cells.

“We were the first to grow human cells in a 3D environment that mimics the human retina,” said Prof Gamm, who is director of the McPherson Eye Research Institute.

“That technology progressed quickly to the point where we can produce the actual spare parts. We can begin to talk about installing them.

“We will start testing versions in the near future. They won’t be perfect but it is reasonable to think about clinical trials in three to five years.”

The conference, Retina 2016, is organised by Fighting Blindness.