VIDEO: How treatments for AMD have evolved

Editor’s note: This is a previously posted video, and the below is an automatically generated transcript to be used for informational purposes. Please notify cperla@healio.com if there are concerns regarding accuracy of the transcription.

So that's a great question. So over the last few decades, AMD treatment has undergone a huge evolution. So when we looked at AMD 20 years ago, or prior to this, we really didn't have current treatments available. And the only treatment options were really laser-related and then photodynamic therapy was a treatment option that came about. These treatments could stop leakage and bleeding, but oftentimes left patients with scarring and the loss of central vision. Now we have treatments for wet age-related macular degeneration or neovascular macular degeneration that target a molecule called the vascular endothelial growth factor or what we call VEGF, and this molecule is thought to lead to abnormal blood growth and also blood vessel instability. And so the therapeutics we have now are called anti-VEGF drugs, and these drugs are very safe and effective for wet macular degeneration patients, but they need frequent injections with these current treatments. And so this can be burdensome to patients. It impairs their quality of life, and in some patients they're unable to maintain the frequent schedule of injections which eventually leads to worse visual outcomes. And so in light of this, there are several clinical trials underway to evaluate new therapies and new modalities of delivering drugs.