Potential drug interventions for diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is of great interest to the drug discovery community owing to the rising worldwide prevalence of diabetes and its associated complications. The complex molecular mechanism associated with DR development and the poor translatability of available animal models to late-stage DR are considered to be major hurdles for drug discovery. Here we will provide an overview of the mechanistic rationale as well as clinical efficacy of drug candidates, and highlight emerging and potential targets for therapeutic intervention at different stages of DR.