Study of Subretinal Implantation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived RPE Cells in Advanced Dry AMD

The study will include two cohorts, each of 10 patients. For the first cohort, the study population will be patients with advanced, dry AMD with evidence of significant geographic atrophy involving the fovea. These patients will have significant central vision loss with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the eye to be implanted of BCVA of 20/200 or worse. Each of these patients will have substantial RPE and photoreceptor loss. Patients will be screened for overall health status to minimize risks associated with retinal surgery and any subsequent immunosuppression. As the safety and tolerability of CPCB-RPE1 is demonstrated in the first cohort, patients with less advanced disease will be recruited into a second cohort in this Phase I/IIa clinical trial. In this second cohort patients will have significant central vision loss with BCVA of the eye to be implanted of 20/80 or worse, but better than or equal to 20/400 with comparably less damage to the RPE/photoreceptor complex than Cohort 1. These patients will be screened in the same manner for overall health status to minimize risks associated with retinal surgery and any subsequent immunosuppression. Assessments of visual function will be the same as in Cohort 1.