Texas Retina Associates’ Rand Spencer, MD, recently performed transplant surgery for the first participant in the Radiant Study, which is a Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of HuCNS-SC (purified human neural stem cells) for the treatment of geographic atrophy, the most advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). HuCNS-SC is proprietary to StemCells, Inc., and the study is being led by Dr. David Birch at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest.
In all, the study will include 63 patients, ages 50 to 90, who have geographic atrophy in both eyes. All participants will receive a single injection of the HuCNS-SC cells into the inferior eye while the untreated eye will serve as a control, and they will be observed for 12 months. The objective of the study is to demonstrate a reduction in the rate of geographic atrophy AMD progression in the injected eye versus the control eye.