Treatments for dry age-related macular degeneration: therapeutic avenues, clinical trials and future directions.

ABSTRACT: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the developed world. The identification of the central role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the pathogenesis of neovascular AMD and the introduction of anti-VEGF agents as gold-standard treatment, have drastically changed its prognosis-something yet to be seen in dry AMD. Several therapeutic avenues with a wide variability of targets are currently being investigated in dry AMD. The approaches being investigated to reduce the rate of disease progression include, (1) drugs with antioxidative properties, (2) inhibitors of the complement cascade, (3) neuroprotective agents, (4) visual cycle inhibitors, (5) gene therapy and (6) cell-based therapies. A number of early phase clinical trials ha

SUBMITTER: Cabral de Guimaraes TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8867261 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature