FDA Clears First Eye Mitochondria Transplant for Bill Ackman’s 26-Year-Old Daughter
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 6
FDA Clears First Eye Mitochondria Transplant for Bill Ackman’s 26-Year-Old Daughter
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 6
Summary
In May, the FDA granted emergency compassionate-use authorization for Lucy Ackman to receive mitochondria transplanted from her leg muscle into her eyes after a February brain hemorrhage left her unable to move, speak or see.
Mt. Sinai doctors pursued the first known human eye use after an April Nature study showed mitochondrial transplants helped a mouse recover from optic-nerve injury; the team sought a time-sensitive eIND because no standard treatment could restore her vision.
Early results showed she regained light perception for several weeks and suffered no eye damage, according to an unreviewed paper, but the apparent benefit faded after about a month and doctors are exploring more frequent injections.
The procedure extends a still-experimental field first reported in humans in 2017 and used in the brain in 2024, though some scientists question whether implanted mitochondria can survive and meaningfully help.
Ackman said the crisis also pushed him to commit more than $400 million to a new brain health and longevity institute, underscoring how wealthy backers are steering high-risk medical research as federal science funding shrinks.
Can transplanting mitochondria truly revive deadened optic nerves, or did the temporary vision recovery merely mask an insurmountable biological barrier?
Will a billionaire’s $400 million gamble on experimental cell therapy revolutionize brain rehabilitation, or does it merely offer false hope?