In Pursuit of Ocular Health

Our deep focus on eye disease stems from the unmet and growing need to counter prevalent, difficult-to-treat ophthalmic conditions.

Intermediate dry age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an ocular disease that progressively destroys the central portion of the retina known as the macula, impairing central vision, and making it difficult to perform everyday tasks, including reading, recognizing faces, and driving. AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in people over age 50 and manifests in two different forms—dry and wet. Because wet AMD patients typically develop the dry form first, dry AMD can be considered a risk factor, or even a precursor, for wet AMD.

Dry AMD

  • The more common form than wet AMD, accounting for 90% of diagnosed cases1
  • Characterized by drusen (fatty waste deposits)
  • Slow progression
  • Geographic atrophy (photoreceptor death in areas of the retina) may occur in advanced cases
  • No current treatment options except for dietary supplements shown to slow progression (Age-Related Eye Disease Study [AREDS])

AMD is characterized by more than one oxidative stress pathway. In the case of dry AMD, the primary oxidative stress pathways are inflammation and cell death or neurodegeneration, neither of which is responsive to anti-VEGF therapy. Finding an agent which has an impact on retinal homeostasis, degeneration, or impairment of function could help to address the substantial unmet need of patients with intermediate dry AMD.

Resources:

1. BrightFocus Foundation website. Age-related macular degeneration: facts & figures. https://www.brightfocus.org/macular/article/age-related-macular-facts-figures. Accessed August 2, 2018.