The trial will be conducted at several locations to include the University of California in Los Angeles. There are two different types of macular degeneration, a dry and 
wet type and this trial is to work with patients who had the dry form of the disorder. The dry form is the less serious and less progressed form of the disease. Earlier back in 2010, Advanced made note of the tax credits that can be helpful in funding this type of research.
US Biotech Companies Filing for Tax Credits – Therapeutic Discovery Project Program - Healthcare Reform
The stem cells are intended to replace the patient’s lost retinal cells and this represents a potential cure with one of the causes for blindness. First we had Geron approved for stem cell trials with the spinal cord and now the eyes are getting a chance too. BD
(Reuters) - Advanced Cell Technology said on Monday it had won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to try out human embryonic stem cells for treating macular degeneration, a common cause of vision loss.
It is the second FDA approved trial for ACT's stem cell product and the third for the controversial and powerful stem cells.
ACT said it would start recruiting patients with dry age-related macular degeneration using retinal pigment epithelial, or RPE cells, which ACT makes from human embryonic stem cells.
"Dry AMD is the leading cause of blindness in individuals over the age of 55," Dr. Robert Lanza, ACT's chief scientific officer, said in a statement.
"As the population ages, the incidence of AMD is expected to double over the next 20 years," he added.
In October, Geron Corp enrolled the first patient in the first ever approved study of human embryonic stem cells, to treat people whose spinal cords have been crushed
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