The Safety of Recently Approved Therapeutics in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Recent developments in treatments for both forms of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have led to the approval of multiple agents and modalities within the last few years. Five new medications for both neovascular AMD (nAMD) and geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to nonexudative AMD (neAMD) have been FDA-approved within the last 5 years, along with a new device designed for sustained drug delivery for nAMD. In nAMD, the newest agents approved by the FDA are brolucizumab (Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland), faricimab (F.

Subretinal Gene Therapy for Treatment of Retinal and Choroidal Vascular Diseases.

Objective: This review article discusses investigational subretinal gene therapies for retinal vascular diseases, including AVA-101, an adeno-associated viral (AAV) 2 vector expressing soluble vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor 1, ABBV-RGX-314, an AAV8 vector expressing an anti-VEGF-A antibody fragment, and EXG102-031, an AAV8 vector expressing a recombinant protein that blocks VEGF family members and angiopoietin 2.

Design: Review article CONCLUSION: Subretinal injection is a commonly used delivery route for investigational gene therapy agents which is theorized to provide relative immune privilege, thereby reducing the risk of inflammation, while providing high transgene expression in photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelium. Subretinal injection of AVA-101 demonstrated safety and tolerability in Phase I and IIa trials, but failed to maintain visual acuity and control exudation.

Emerging Treatment Options for Geographic Atrophy (GA) Secondary to Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is characterized as a chronic, multifactorial disease and is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Advanced AMD is classified as neovascular (wet) AMD and non-neovascular (dry) AMD. Dry AMD can progress to a more advanced form that manifests as geographic atrophy (GA), which significantly threatens vision, leading to progressive and irreversible loss of visual function.