Blindness ‘cure’ set for trials

A GENE therapy being developed in Ireland that offers a cure for blindness could move to human trials as early as next year.

About 7,000 people in Ireland suffer from retinitis pigmentosa (RP), an inherited disease and one of the biggest causes of blindness in the developed world.

The ground-breaking development will take place in the new Fighting Blindness Research Institute at Dublin City University, announced by Health Minister Mary Harney yesterday.