Drug Delivery Technologies for the Treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive and degenerative disease affecting the posterior segment of the eye. It currently affects millions of people worldwide, and the gold standard of treatment has remained unchanged for over 20 years. It consists of intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (Anti-VEGF), which pose significant challenges to patient compliance primarily due to accessibility issues, fear of injections in the eye, and high cost. In this review, a thorough description of the pathogenesis of AMD and the anatomical barriers is presented that must be considered for the design of newer drug delivery systems for the treatment of AMD. Likewise, a critical evaluation of the most recent research efforts in the literature regarding the treatment of AMD using novel drug delivery technologies is provided. Lastly, currently approved therapeutic agents are reviewed for AMD and provide an insight into the recent surge of biosimilars with an outlook on how future therapeutic approaches to AMD should be developed.