Gene therapy reverses sight loss and is long-lasting

A genetic therapy has improved the vision of patients who would otherwise have gone blind.

A clinical study has shown that the improvement is long-lasting and so the therapy is suitable to be offered as a treatment.

The researchers will apply for approval to begin trials to treat more common forms of blindness, such as macular degeneration, next year

The results have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A team at Oxford University is treating a rare disorder called choroideremia. The disorder affects young men whose light-detecting cells in the backs of their eyes are dying because they have inherited a faulty gene.

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