Moorfields team seeking cure for blindness win a share in £40m grants for clinical research in London

Pioneering treatments: Moorfields eye hospital will use they money to grow 'mini eyeballs'
Ross Lydall @RossLydall18 November 2016

Pioneering treatments for incurable blindness are among the projects benefiting from more than £40 million awarded today to eight London hospital trusts.

The capital won more than a third of the £112 million in nationwide grants as the Government sought to protect the UK’s reputation for clinical research post-Brexit.

Moorfields Eye Hospital will use its £5.3 million to advance its research using stem cells to grow “mini eyeballs” to help find cures for macular degeneration and glaucoma.

It will also be able to continue its work on “bionic eyes”, a treatment that the hospital was the first in Europe to trial for patients with retinitis pigmentosa following a previous grant.

Moorfields: The money will be spent on researching a potential cure for blindness

Professor Sir Peng Tee Khaw, the director of research and development at Moorfields, said: “We are absolutely thrilled.

"The idea of the stem cells with macular degeneration and glaucoma is that they might do what we think is impossible at the moment, which is to improve things a bit.

"This can revolutionise the treatment of these diseases that cause so much suffering here in the UK and around the world.”

Guy’s and St Thomas’ — whose projects include removing the need for transplant patients to take immuno-suppressant drugs long-term to pre- vent the rejection of donated organs — received £7.2 million.

GOSH: The children's hospital one £3.9 million  
Peter MacDiarmid/Getty Images

Patient Michael McAdam said: “My kidney was only functioning at 14 per cent of its normal level, so I thought, ‘What have I got to lose?’

"Participating in the trial has not only been of benefit to my health but it has provided me with the chance to give something back for all the fantastic care I’ve received.”

Other London winners included Imperial College Healthcare (£10.8 million), University College London Hospitals (£6.5 million), South London and Maudsley (£3.9 million) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (£3.9 million).

Nationwide gtants: Nicola Blackwood, Minister for public health and innovation said the funding had led to breakthrough

The awards were made by the National Institute for Health Research after receiving competing bids.

Nicola Blackwood, minister for public health and innovation, said the funding had led to breakthroughs “including the first new asthma treatment in a decade and a promising treatment for peanut allergies in children, to name just two.”

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