StemCell Ventures is working with the University College London's Institute of Ophthalmology to devise a patch containing adult-eye stem cells that could be implanted in the eye in hopes of restoring vision.
Adult stem cells would be isolated in the lab over the next few hours, and then the patient would come back in the afternoon and get an injection of his own purified stem cells into the eye.
In an unusual deal, the big drug maker is funding the creation of a biotech company in San Diego called EyeCyte, which will develop stem-cell treatments for eye diseases.