If all goes according to plan, about half a dozen elderly people at risk of blindness will visit Dr. Lawrence J. Singerman’s retina clinic in the coming weeks to receive injections in the whites of their eyes. The experimental injections will contain a new type of drug based on a recently discovered genetic phenomenon, called RNA interference, that has excited scientists with its versatile and powerful ability to turn off genes. Having quickly become a standard tool for genetic studies in the laboratory, the technique is now set to be tested in people for the first time. Acuity Pharmaceuticals, a two-year-old company in Philadelphia, said last week that the Food and Drug Administration had granted permission for it to conduct the first human test of RNA interference - the experiment in which Dr. Singerman’s clinic in Cleveland and a second clinic plan to participate. The early-stage clinical trial, largely a safety review, will test the technique against the gene that sets off the process of age-related macular degeneration, a deterioration of the retina that is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly.
