The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded on Oct. 2, 2006 for a discovery that appears to be yielding effective new treatments for macular degeneration and other diseases.         

Two researchers, University of Massachusetts Professor Craig Mello and Stanford University Professor Andrew Fire, first published their discovery in 1998 in the science journal Nature. According to an article in the current Forbes magazine, Mello and Fire discovered that a particular kind of RNA, previously thought to be nothing more than a messenger between DNA molecules, actually regulates proteins that have been tied to many diseases. Several pharmaceutical companies including Merck, Genentech, Alnylam, and Sirna Therapeutics are testing experimental drugs based on the discovery of Mello and Fire and on the developing technique known as RNA interference.         

A particularly promising trial relating to macular degeneration was reported in the Aug. 11, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle. In the trial, the experimental drug Sirna-027 staved off vision loss in 24 of 26 trial subjects who had already developed the wet form of age-related macular degeneration. The experimental drug is designed to neutralize RNA that promotes the abnormal growth of blood vessels in the retina.         

The Chronicle also reported that Genentech won Food and Drug Administration approval in July to market its new drug for age-related macular degeneration. Both the approved drug and the experimental one require injections into the eye. The drug being tested by Sirna may require less-frequent injections.         

Nearly 1.2 million Americans over the age of 40 suffer from this particular form of macular degeneration. As the baby-boom generation continues to age, the number is expected to increase.