Progress of Anti-VEGF Agents for Retinal Angiogenesis | DDDT
Currently, the most common blinding fundus diseases worldwide mainly include age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinal vein occlusions (RVO), and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which cause vision loss at almost all ages and impose a heavy socioeconomic burden. The common hallmark of these diseases is the formation of retinal neovascularization (RNV).
Conclusion/Relevance: At present, two sustained-release materials are being tested in clinical research, and although basic research shows the strong therapeutic application prospects of extended-release drugs, its challenges mainly involve the discrepancy between the release rates in vitro and the efficiency of the drugs in vivo. Briefly, sustained release of anti-VEGF agents is an advantageous strategy for treating retinal angiogenesis.
• Source: Drug Design, Development and Therapy
• Relevance: “Currently, the treatment for ocular neovascular diseases, including diabetic macular edema (DME) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), mainly involves repeated intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs. Although it can preserve vision, repeated injections are an invasive treatment modality, leading to serious complications and reducing patient adherence to treatment. To reduce the frequency of administration, prolong the time of drug action, and avoid repeated intravitreal injections, the combination of sustained-release materials with anti-VEGF drug therapy has become an emphasis in ophthalmology.”
• Continuous release and better outcomes result from encapsulating anti-VEGF drugs in sustained-release materials to limit intravitreal injections. Currently, 2 sustained-release materials are being investigated.
• Challenges to extended-release formulations include discrepancies between release rates in vitro and drug efficiency in vivo.
• Drug carriers need to form stable combinations with anti-VEGF drugs, offer extended release periods, provide enhanced intraocular penetration, and be biocompatible.
• The authors wrote, “The most well-studied sustained-release materials include degradable and non-degradable materials. Degradable materials are now widely preferred by researchers because there is no need for secondary surgery to remove them. However, it’s worth noticing that it is necessary to receive other intraocular injections of anti-VEGF agents if the degradable materials were degraded before completely controlling disease progression. The main advantage of non-degradable materials is that they can be repeatedly supplemented with drugs.”