A Study of an Encapsulated Cell Technology (ECT) Implant for Patients With Atrophic Macular Degeneration

Inclusion criteria

• ✓. To participate in this study, the participant had to understand and sign the protocol's informed consent (if the participant's vision was impaired to the point where it was not possible to read the informed consent document, the informed consent document was read in its entirety to the participant).
• ✓. Women of childbearing potential (women with last menses \<1 year prior to screening) had to agree to use an effective form of birth control from study onset until they completed the 18 month study visit.
• ✓. Participant had to be medically able to undergo ophthalmic surgery for NT-501 implant.
• ✓. Best-corrected visual acuity in the study eye between 20/50 and 20/200 (68-34 letter score) as measured using EVA.
• ✓. Presence in the study and/or fellow eye of geographic atrophy (GA) compatible with category 3 or 4 age-related macular degeneration (AMD) as defined by AREDS (AREDS, 2001). Also, the GA in the study eye had to be associated with vision loss as assessed by a vision test. GA was defined as one or more well-defined, usually more or less circular patches of partial or complete depigmentation of the RPE, typically with exposure of underlying choroidal blood vessels. Even if much of the RPE appeared to be preserved and large choroidal vessels were not visible, a roundish patch of RPE partial depigmentation might still be classified as early GA. A patch had to be at least 175 microns in area.
• ✓. Participants had steady fixation in the study eye in the foveal or parafoveal area with media clear enough for good quality photographs.