Drugs for Common Form of Vision Loss

There are various drugs that are being worked upon to cure the common problems being faced by people across the globe. In regards to that, there is an experimental drug that is being developed to help reduce the eye damage in people. This is a very common form of vision loss which can happen to anyone. There is no treatment for this condition at this point in time. As per the World Health Organization, the age-related macular degeneration or AMD is a common cause for vision loss in developed and industrialized countries. There is a new study being done to help with this. The disease causes damage to the to the macula which is a tiny spot near the center of the retina. This part is sensitive to the light. The person losses vision straight ahead and it also causes blurriness. This can become a big problem for the person as it will affect their daily work items such as reading, driving and recognizing faces.

In a study, 129 people participated. These people belonged to the age group of 60 to 89. These people were from Germany and United States and had AMD. These participants were given monthly injections of the drug lampalizumab. It was found that the drug reduced the size of the area by almost 20 percent on an average. One set of the people who were administered the medicine showed up to 44 percent improvement in the affected area. This increased the interest of the researchers and it was found that they shared a certain genetic mutation.

This test also highlighted the fact that human genetics play an important role in understanding the disease that they may have. These tests also help with the discovery of new therapeutic ways to treat a disease and also help identify the population which may benefit from the treatment the most. These finding can now help slow down the progress of this disease among the people. What makes it more exciting is the fact that currently there is nothing much known about this disease.

As per the doctors, there are two main types of AMD known as neovascular AMD and geographic atrophy AMD. They are also known as wet AMD and dry AMD as well. The wet AMD is caused by the growth of abnormal blood vessels which leak the fluid into the macula and the dry AMD is caused due to the shrinkage of tissue and cell death in the macula. These forms of AMD have the same occurrence rate, hence anyone can be affected by either of these two conditions. There are certain treatments which are available for wet AMD such as laser surgery and drugs, however, they are currently not approved as a treatment. The treatments only worked for wet AMD and not for the dry AMD.

This disease requires more study and clinical trials to help understand it better. Current findings were for only a small group and would have to be done with more people to confirm its effectiveness.