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The Macular Society鈥檚 report, 鈥楢ge-related macular degeneration: collaboration to find a cure鈥�, funded by the Clothworkers鈥� Foundation, predicts that the number of people affected by AMD will rise from 600,000 today to 1.3 million by 2050 鈥� equivalent to 400 new cases every day.

AMD is a progressive disease that is currently incurable. Professor Phil Luthert of the IoO said, 鈥淎MD is increasingly recognised as a colossal healthcare challenge and, despite major advances in genetics, epidemiology, pathogenesis and imaging, we still don鈥檛 understand how to prevent early disease progressing to blinding disease.鈥�

The Macular Society reports that that of the 拢22.7m spent on eye disease medical research in 2014, just 拢6m was spend on AMD research; AMD costs the UK 拢1.6bn annually. The report recommends bringing researchers together in a unified approach to AMD research, and securing a new funding model to support it.

A number of eye experts are leading the campaign for funding, including, from the IoO: Professor James Bainbridge; Dr Christos Bergeles; Dr Amanda Carr; Professor Andrew Dick; Professor Glen Jeffery; Professor Stephen Moss; Sobja Sivaprasad; and Dr Anthony Vugler.

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