Pegaptanib for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration is a common cause of blindness. In this study, intraocular injection of an agent (pegaptanib) that blocks the receptor for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) retarded the rate of vision loss caused by age-related macular degeneration. Endophthalmitis occurred in a few of the patients who received injections. Although the long-term safety and efficacy of pegaptanib therapy are unknown, these results suggest that long-term studies of pegaptanib in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration are needed. Intraocular injection of pegaptanib retarded the rate of vision loss caused by age-related macular degeneration. The use of a specific antagonist of an angiogenic factor as a strategy to treat disease was proposed in the Journal more than 30 years ago. 1 Since that time, extensive evidence has suggested a causal role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in several diseases of the human eye in which neovascularization and increased vascular permeability occur. 1 – 12 In humans, ocular VEGF levels have been shown to rise synchronously with and in proportion to the growth and leakage of new vessels. 2 – 4 Animal models of corneal, 5 iridic, 6 retinal, 7 and choroidal 8 neovascularization have shown that neovascularization is dependent on the presence . . .