Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology, a biotechnology company focused on developing regenerative medicine, reports that the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has received institutional review board (IRB) approval to be a site for its phase I/II human clinical trials for Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy (SMD) and Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration (Dry AMD) using retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).

"It is only appropriate that an institution with the global stature of UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute would be a site for the first-ever clinical trials using embryonic-derived stem cells to treat diseases of the eye, and we could not be more pleased," said Gary Rabin, interim chairman and CEO of Advanced Cell Technology. 

The phase I/II trials will be prospective, open-label studies designed to determine the safety and tolerability of the RPE cells following sub-retinal transplantation into patients with SMD and Dry AMD.