Grandad first in world to get drug that may save his sight

A PATIENT is hoping to see his grandchildren grow up after becoming the first person in the world to test a new drug to stop diabetes patients losing their eyesight.

- Chris Riches

Steve Gotts, 63, has had diabetes for 30 years but also suffers from diabetic maculopathy, a condition caused by a build-up of excess fluid in the back of the eye that puts sufferers at risk of going blind.

Now the retired scientific officer, of Bootle, Merseyside, has become the first of 24 patients on a trial of Danegaptide, a month of tablets, at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The eye condition can currently be treated only at a late stage with injections or lasers, and in the UK most type 1 diabetes sufferers and two-thirds of type 2 patients have backof-the-eye damage after 20 years of diagnosis.