Saudi Arabia introduces treatment
For the first time in the Middle East .. Saudi Arabia introduces a genetic treatment for hereditary blindness Dr. Salwa Bint Abdullah Al-Hazaa, President and Consultant of Ophthalmology and Senior Scientist and Senior Consultant of Genetic Diseases at the Research Center at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, announced the introduction of a treatment for "night-blind" disease that afflicts Laayoune to Saudi Arabia.
The lecturer at Al-Faisal University and the clinical professor at the University of Southern California, during the 2019 Saudi Society of Genetic Medicine, which was hosted by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, recently announced for two days, the establishment of the Personal Medicine Center of the Eye Genome and the accreditation of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center as the first hospital In the Middle East region for gene therapy for a type of genetic blindness, a treatment approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in the presence of scientists specializing in genomics from various countries of the world.
The conference aims to increase the awareness of doctors and researchers in the health field about the latest technologies in the field of genomics and their application in the diagnosis of genetic genetic diseases, tumors and infectious diseases.
And Dr. Salwa Al-Hazaa announced the introduction of this RPE65 examination for newborns to increase the genetic diseases that are examined within the newborn examination so that early intervention can be treated and treated before permanent visual impairment occurs.
Dr. Al-Hazaa said that the detection rate of genetic diseases of the eyes exceeded 83% in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is a high percentage compared to international laboratories, which is about 60%.
Dr. Al-Hazaa pointed out that the treatment is only one injection given to the patient, so that it can recover after a short period of time, and at a very high rate, according to the report of the manufacturer of this drug.
She explained that the drug is used to treat a rare disease that causes poor vision, which is caused by hereditary retinal atrophy, and causes blindness, noting that this drug depends on the principle of genetic engineering, where the patient is injected with a healthy copy of a missing gene in the eye, in turn to stimulate the body to produce a protein Vital to reclaim.
Dr. Al-Hazaa explained that genetic treatments are used once to treat the disease from its source, and repair damaged DNA so that the body can treat itself, unlike traditional drugs that take months and treatment to repeat.
And she confirmed that this treatment was approved by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Authority (EMA), that Saudi Arabia be one of the first countries to use this drug after the United States of America and some European countries.
She explained that Saudi Arabia has global confidence in the standards of drug registration, which reflects the eagerness of international companies to offer their medicines in the Kingdom, after being approved by international bodies such as the US Food and Drug Authority and the European Medicines Authority.
And Dr. Al-Hazaa, the importance of a pre-marriage examination to include common diseases, as revealed by the statistics of the Saudi human genome, explaining that adding this mutation to the examination will lead to a healthy marriage and avoid genetic diseases before pregnancy occurs.
Al-Hazaa praised the efforts made by the Saudi Society for Genetics SSMG 2019, its support for genetic medicine, facing the increase of genetic diseases, the keenness on joining academic and health efforts, and strengthening genetic studies and scientific research through the convergence of local, regional and global genetic experiences to support the Kingdom''s 2030 vision.
