An estimated 10 million people in the United States are affected by retinal degenerative diseases. Now, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, an innovative gene therapy treatment can restore vision to the blind.

In a clinical trial at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, three patients received a single injection in one eye of a normal gene to replace their defective gene. Patients were then evaluated weeks later to see if their vision had improved. All three reported having improved vision, and could read several lines on an eye chart and see better in dimly lit settings.

In addition to curing a variety of retinal diseases including retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt disease, Usher syndrome, and macular degeneration, gene therapy also holds the potential for treating other neurological diseases such as ALS and Parkinson disease, as well as a host of other diseases including cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.

The non-profit group, Foundation Fighting Blindness, was a major funder of the study and of the preclinical work leading up to this clinical trial.

Click here for more information on this study.

Check out the Foundation Fighting Blindness