Antonio Champalimaud Vision Prize: First gene therapy wins

The gene therapy manages to cure an inherited disease and opens the way for the development of genetic therapies for the treatment of hereditary diseases, Xinhua news agency quoted the foundation as saying.

Seven researchers from the US and Britain who developed a revolutionary gene therapy for a form of inherited childhood blindness, have been awarded the 2018 Antonio Champalimaud Vision Prize.

Michael Redmond of US National Eye Institute, who discovered a genetic therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and six other researchers from Pennsylvania, Florida, and London won the $1.15 million prize money on Tuesday, the Portugal Champalimaud Foundation has announced.

The gene therapy manages to cure an inherited disease and opens the way for the development of genetic therapies for the treatment of hereditary diseases, Xinhua news agency quoted the foundation as saying.

The vision award launched in 2006 is believed to be the largest in the world.

The winners are chosen by an international panel that includes Nobel Prize-winning scientists, distinguished clinician-scientists and prominent leaders in international development.

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