New gene therapy could help save sight

One in seven Australians over 50s are affected by dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which costs the economy about 5 billion dollars.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of legal blindness in Australia. (AAP) Source: AAP

Dry AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world without a cure.

It is estimated that by 2020, there will be 196 million people living with AMD worldwide.

However, a new gene therapy using tiny molecules called microRNA has shown its potential to slow down the progression of the disease.

SBS Mandarin spoke with Dr Joshua Chu-Tan at The Australian National University about his new discovery that could potentially save millions of people from going blind.

关注更多澳洲新闻，请在Facebook上关注SBS Mandarin，或在微博上关注澳大利亚SBS广播公司