Gene therapy trial starts

A gene therapy trial led by Oxford University has attracted widespread media coverage after starting treatment on its first choroideraemia patient.

The trial will see 12 patients undergo surgery with gene therapy injected into one eye, with the second to follow should treatment be effective.

Patient Jonathan Wyatt, 63, who can see only blackness except for a small area of a few degrees in diameter in the centre of his vision, was the first patient to have the surgery.

'This trial represents the world's first ever attempt to treat this disease and the first time that gene therapy has been directed towards the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells of the human retina.