Macular degeneration affects the central part of your retina, which controls sharp, straight-ahead vision you use for reading and driving. Left untreated, this serious eye disease can lead to significant vision loss; fortunately, medication exists that can slow its progress by suppressing VEGF production.

Anti-VEGF injections are the primary means of treating wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). When administered regularly or bimonthly, they can help protect vision loss from further.

Eylea

Eylea (aflibercept) is an intravitreal injection designed to decrease fluid buildup in the eye. This treatment is most frequently prescribed for wet age-related macular degeneration, macular edema following retinal vein occlusion and diabetic macular edema (DME). This medication works by blocking new blood vessel formation within the eye – helping reduce fluid buildup as well as scarring that can result in loss of fine-resolution central vision loss. Ophthalmologists administer this injection into their patient’s eye; this treatment has proven highly successful when treating both wet and dry AMD in addition to DME.

In both VIVID-DME and VISTA-DME trials, Aflibercept proved noninferior to Ranibizumab for maintaining visual acuity at week 52. Aflibercept also demonstrated significantly faster rates of stabilizing best corrected visual acuity. Aflibercept had similar safety profiles to Ranibizumab with conjunctival hemorrhage, eye pain, cataract formation and vitreous floaters being the most frequently occurring adverse events (TEAEs); other frequent adverse events included hypertension and nasopharyngitis.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a key role in normal ocular development; however, when combined with certain diseases it can promote abnormal new blood vessel formation that leads to macular edema or other symptoms. Utilizing Eylea as therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration helps decrease the amount of fluid accumulation within the eye and may help protect fine-resolution central vision from becoming lost.

The VIEW 1 and 2 studies were double-masked, placebo-controlled clinical trials designed to investigate the efficacy of Eylea for wet age-related macular degeneration patients. Each trial consisted of 1217 participants in study 1, while 1240 participated in trial 2, which compared Aflibercept to bevacizumab in treating Neovascular Wet AMD patients.

Eylea is a fully human recombinant fusion protein designed to act as a decoy receptor for the VEGF family of ligands, such as VEGF-A and VEGF-B. It binds tightly with these receptors and blocks downstream signalling pathways; Eylea has been demonstrated as being more effective than bevacizumab at reducing macular edema due to age-related macular degeneration caused by new blood vessel formation than bevacizumab alone.

Avastin

If you suffer from wet age-related macular degeneration, bevacizumab injections (Avastin) may help slow vision loss. This medication works by blocking abnormal blood vessels that leak and lead to macular edema and stopping new ones from growing in your retina, which contains light-sensitive cells essential for vision. These injections are performed at your doctor’s office and usually well tolerated. You may experience minor pain upon injection; if a more serious side effect arises seek medical assistance immediately.

Lucentis and Avastin, manufactured by Genentech, are currently the two primary medications used for this purpose. Both work by blocking new blood vessel growth that leads to wet macular degeneration and proliferative diabetic retinopathy; both injections into the eye are less painful than one might think and provide effective wet AMD treatments that have restored vision for many.

Anti-VEGF treatments have been supported by numerous clinical trials, such as HORIZON and SUSTAIN studies. Patients in these studies received monthly injections of either Lucentis or off-label Avastin for wet AMD; two years after starting treatment both groups experienced similar visual acuity results as well as improvement in macular thickness; however retinal specialists may still prefer one over another in specific clinical situations.

Avastin is approved to treat cancer, but its uses extend beyond this indication. Physicians can legally utilize drugs outside their FDA-approved indication, provided they use them responsibly and base their use on firm scientific method and sound medical evidence. As a result, physicians across the country use Avastin “off-label” to treat macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy conditions.

At first, your doctor will carefully clean around your eye to prevent infection before inserting a needle into the vitreous humor, the fluid found at the center of your eye. The process should only last a few minutes and is relatively painless.

Lucentis

Age related macular degeneration is an eye condition which leads to rapid and severe loss of vision, disrupting an individual’s ability to drive, read and recognise faces. Luckily, Lucentis, which has FDA approval to treat wet macular degeneration, can now be administered via monthly injections as treatment for wet macular degeneration. It works by slowing new abnormal blood vessel growth while decreasing leakage from existing ones; furthermore it treats macular edema caused by retinal vein occlusion (RVO) as well as diabetic macular edema.

Drug injection into the eye is a straightforward procedure that takes only 15-20 seconds. Your doctor will administer numbing drops before placing a device to keep them open while inserting an injection into the white portion of your eyeball known as the sclera – typically well tolerated by patients without experiencing any pain during this procedure. Once complete, drapes will be taken away and perhaps antibiotic eye drops given in order to protect from potential infection.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute conducted a study and discovered that patients suffering from early proliferative diabetic retinopathy could improve their visual acuity after receiving Lucentis injections. All 10 patients saw at least two-line improvement on an eye chart after several months – this research was published in Ophthalmology journal.

Ranibizumab is an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) ophthalmic agent. As a monoclonal antibody that binds with the VEGF-A receptor and reduces new blood vessel formation in the eye, Ranibizumab provides effective therapy for macular edema caused by retinal vein occlusion or diabetic retinopathy and should be injected using a syringe into each eye using injection needles.

Clinical trials demonstrated that Lucentis is superior to Avastin for treating wet macular degeneration and macular edema caused by retinal vessel occlusion, with significantly more improvement in visual acuity as well as more efficacy at slowing the progression of disease progression.

BEOVU

BEOVU was recently approved by the FDA as a treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration, but since its approval Novartis has received warnings of serious side effects. These include retinal vasculitis and retinal arterial occlusion – two serious conditions which can result in vision loss or blindness.

These symptoms arise when blood vessels in your eye develop leakage of fluid and blood around the macula, unlike dry macular degeneration which progresses gradually over months or years and usually only leads to minimal vision loss, wet AMD is much more dangerous, potentially leading to permanent vision loss within just weeks of diagnosis. BEOVU works by inhibiting new blood vessel growth while decreasing leakage of fluid and blood from existing ones in order to combat wet AMD as effectively as possible.

BEOVU contains brolucizumab, a monoclonal antibody (a type of protein). It binds specifically to an unwanted protein known as vascular endothelial growth factor A or VEGF-A that promotes abnormal blood vessel growth and leakage of fluid into the eye – two symptoms associated with wet macular degeneration patients where abnormal blood vessels grow rapidly while also leaking fluid, leading to reduced visual acuity.

Beovu can be administered using an intravitreal injection in the doctor’s office, with minimal discomfort for most. However, the injection may cause irritation or redness at its site; should this occur call your ophthalmologist immediately for evaluation.

BEOVU was recently found to be effective at gradually increasing a patient’s visual acuity over time, increasing the percentage of those able to see 20/20 or better when compared with those given similar treatment such as Avastin or Lucentis. This research was carried out by the National Eye Institute, with 1,800 participants being included.

BEOVU can also treat diabetic macular oedema, which occurs in those living with diabetes who fail to adequately regulate their blood sugar. Diabetic macular oedema is caused by an unwanted protein called VEGF-A which leads to blood vessel formation and leakage of fluid into the eye; eye doctors can administer Beovu doses on an extended dosing schedule for this condition.