When you have age-related macular degeneration (AMD), you gradually lose vision. Today’s treatments can slow the disease, but they don’t help everyone. Emerging treatments may help a lot more people with the disease.
There are two types of AMD: dry and wet. With dry AMD, a part of the eye called the macula gets thinner with age, and clumps of protein grow. There are no drugs that treat this form.
Wet AMD is less common but more serious. It involves abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye, which can lead to scarring of the macula. Wet AMD treatments include eye injections to slow down this blood vessel growth.
Researchers are testing emerging treatments for AMD, both the wet and dry types. And the future looks promising.
Emerging Treatments for Dry AMD
About 8 in 10 people with AMD have the dry type of AMD. While there are no drugs for it, research suggests that a specific formulation of antioxidants can help slow the disease.
Scientists believe they can add more options to the treatment arsenal – sooner rather than later. Ask your doctor if you should enter a clinical trial or try a new medicine for AMD.
A lot of research is underway for dry AMD treatments. One promising treatment could be approved in 2023; others still have years of study ahead.
Drugs that target the immune system. You may have heard the phrase “targets the immune system” before. This usually refers to a drug that affects one specific part of your immune system.
There are two highly promising, emerging drugs that target the immune system in AMD. Specifically, they target substances in the “the complement cascade.” This part of the immune system is essential to the progression of vision loss in geographic atrophy, an advanced form of AMD. Eye injections of these drugs may preserve vision in geographic atrophy.
Treatments that replace vision cells. Most emerging treatments focus on stopping the disease from getting worse. But AMD researchers are also exploring ways to restore the vision that has already been lost.
Researchers are hoping that stem cells can replace cells in the retina that have been damaged by AMD. In one approach, scientists are aiming to insert a patch: a layer of stem cells on a thin scaffold. Researchers are also investigating the potential for stem cell injections into the eye.
Unlike drugs that target the immune system, stem cell therapies for AMD could be a long way off – potentially 15 years away.
Emerging Treatments for Wet AMD
Wet AMD can be treated with eye injections of anti-VEGF drugs. These drugs target a protein involved in making new blood vessels. By slowing the growth of damaging, abnormal blood vessels in the eye, these drugs can slow vision loss. But you need to get them regularly for them to work.
Emerging treatments for wet AMD may have some advantages.
Gene therapy. This type of therapy treats you at a genetic level. For example, a treatment may inject new genetic code into your cells, providing instructions to create needed substances or repair faulty connections.
Researchers are exploring different approaches for gene therapy in AMD. One promising treatment instructs the eye to make its anti-VEGF medicine. If successful, this could be a one-time injection.
New drug delivery. New ways of delivering anti-VEGF drugs can also reduce the burden of regular injections. Researchers are exploring the potential of installing a small port in the eye, which could slowly release medicine. It may only need to be refilled one or two times a year.
Improvements to anti-VEGF treatment. This ongoing area of research is making anti-VEGF drugs more successful. Areas of success or promise so far:
- Expanded targets for drugs
- Combination medicines
- Longer-lasting anti-VEGF therapies
How to Get Access to Emerging Treatments
Many years can pass before a highly promising treatment works its way through the research and approvals process. That’s before it can be manufactured and distributed.
However, you may be able to access some emerging therapies for AMD while they are in clinical trials.
Clinical trials test whether new treatments are safe and effective. If you enter one, be sure you understand the full picture of risks and benefits. Even though an emerging treatment isn’t proven, it may still be worth the chance of success – especially if you have few other options.
You can try to get access to these trials on your own by searching for “age-related macular degeneration” at www.clinicaltrials.gov. You can also ask your health care team to be on the lookout for emerging treatments for AMD that may be appropriate for you to try.
