VIDEO: Geographic atrophy research stems from 'high imminent need' for treatment

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Research has been very active for many years in the geographic atrophy space mainly because of the very high imminent need. We’ve had no effective treatments until this class of therapeutics complement blockers have come about and shown benefits at phase 2 and now definitive benefits at the phase 3 level of clinical trials. And this, of course, led to the FDA approval of pegcetacoplan (Syfovre, Apellis Pharmaceuticals) and the potential upcoming approval of avacincaptad pegol (Iveric Bio) to treat geographic atrophy. But there are others potentially out there too. There are other ways to block complement, other specific targets, and there are even non-complement pathways that might be involved or might influence the rate of growth of geographic atrophy, and those too are being explored.