Several pathways under investigation for dry AMD treatment
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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — Several pathways are under investigation for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration, according to a presentation at Retina 2022.
“The big issue for us researchers is we don’t have a good animal model to test anything,” Peter K. Kaiser, MD, said. “We don’t have preclinical models that inform us if a drug is going to work or not because the animal that we use are humans. If you look at the different approaches, it really falls along the lines of our current thinking about dry AMD.”
Treatments can fall into several categories, including stem cells, preservation of photoreceptors and reduction of toxic byproduct accumulation. Current treatment strategies include prevention of oxidative damage and suppression of inflammation.
Kaiser explored two treatments currently undergoing trials in dry AMD, elamipretide (Stealth BioTherapeutics) and risuteganib (Allegro).
Elamipretide helps repair mitochondrial dysfunction by binding to cardiolipin and stabilizing the inner mitochondrial membrane structure. In the ReCLAIM-1 study, participants treated with elamipretide saw improvements in best correct visual acuity, low-luminance visual acuity and other visual outcome measures.
Risuteganib is a synthetic RGD-class oligopeptide that boasts antiangiogenic and anti-inflammatory effects, as well as mitochondrial stabilization. In a phase 2a study, 48% of participants treated with risuteganib gained at least eight letters in BCVA compared with 7.1% in the sham control group (P = .013).
Kaiser also discussed ANX007 (Annexon), a treatment designed to inhibit C1q, a common cause of chronic inflammation in retinal disease. It is also under investigation in the phase 2 ARCHER study, which will explore the mean change in geographic atrophy lesion area from baseline after 12 months of treatment.
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Kaiser PK. Update on emerging treatments for dry age-related macular degeneration. Presented at: Retina 2022; Jan. 15-21, 2022; Waikoloa, Hawaii.
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