New target for macular degeneration gets funding for clinical trials

The Medical Research Council is to fund researchers at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital to conduct clinical trials into the use of a humanised monoclonal antibody to treat patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is the leading cause of severe vision loss in people over the age of 60. More than three million people in Europe and North America suffer from a neovascular form of AMD ('wet' AMD). Current treatments involve injections which block a protein known as VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor). The protein has an important role because it stimulates the formation of new blood vessels needed for healthy circulation and for healing damaged tissue. But in disease, the new blood vessels that are formed are abnormal and, in the case of AMD, grow underneath the macula (the central part of the retina) and leak fluid. This leakage, together with bleeds and scar tissue, eventually leads to loss of central vision and distortions where, for example, straight lines appear wavy.