A 38-year-old patient received an artificial cornea transplant at the Montpellier University Hospital. This first clinical trial in humans is the subject of a study on 45 patients around the world: in Canada, the Netherlands, Israel, Paris and Montpellier. After tests on animals, two patients have already benefited in Israel from these transplants since the beginning of the year.
Corneal disease is the third leading cause of blindness in the world. They are of infectious, inflammatory, traumatic or genetic origin. Current solutions for treating corneal blindness include donor transplants. Sometimes rejected grafts, and whose lifespan is limited in time, often requiring a new transplant after ten years.
“No immunological reaction possible”
According to the WHO, 20% of corneal blindness cannot be treated with a donor corneal transplant. Nine million people suffer from it across the world. In France, in 2019, the last year beforeCovid, 5.436 acts corneal transplants were performed.
Originally from Bordeaux, the first French patient to be artificially transplanted suffered from keratitis linked to the herpes virus. A transplant had been refused to him on several occasions. The Montpellier University Hospital has joined the Israeli start-up Corneat Vision, at the origin of this synthetic cornea. “The CHU is positioned on this kind of development in terms of innovation,” says Professor Vincent Daien, head of the ophthalmology service. “As it is a synthetic material, there is no possible immunological reaction. This process creates a lot of hopes and expectations for patients rejected for transplant ”.