New therapies for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is a leading cause of legal blindness in older adults. The visual loss caused by ARMD can be devastating and many of the current treatment modalities are ineffective or only of moderate benefit in preventing the progression of the disease. Furthermore, few treatment options are available to patients with more advanced cases of ARMD. This review highlights some aspects of our current understanding of ARMD and discusses recent patent applications related to the treatment of this disease. In particular, agents that promote retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell proliferation and compounds with anti-oxidant properties that may prove useful in the treatment of non-neovascular ARMD will be discussed. In addition, we review photodynamic therapy and anti-angiogenic compounds that show potential promise in the treatment of the neovascular form of ARMD.

• age-related macular degeneration
• anti-angiogenic compounds
• anti-oxidant compounds
• photodynamic therapy
• vascular endothelial growth factor