Emerging pharmacologic therapies for wet age-related macular degeneration

As researchers and clinicians are beginning to understand that wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is more than simply a vascular disease that includes angiogenic, vascular and inflammatory components, they are exploring new agents with different mechanisms of action addressing multiple targets in this complex pathophysiology. Some of them are already available in human trials or even approved vascular epithelial growth factor (VEGF) blockers such as Macugen, Lucentis, Avastin, VEGF Trap-Eye and Cand5; VEGF receptor blockers such as TG100801, vatalanib, pazopanib, Sirna-027 and a vaccine approach; inflammation inhibitors and immunosuppressants such as Retaane, Kenalog, ARC1905, POT-4, OT-551. The last group is mixed, containing agents such as Zybrestat, AdPEGF, Sirolimus, JSM6427, ATG003, E10030. This article reviews these currently emerging agents and briefly discusses the next step for the treatment of wet AMD.