AG-86893
2019-01-18
Age-related Macular Degeneration (wAMD)
2019-01-29

Diabetic Macular Edema (DME)

Approximately 3.8% of individuals over 40 years of age with diabetes mellitus will develop Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) and lose vision¹. It is anticipated that 14.6 million adults will have developed signs and symptoms of DME by 2030.

Diabetic patients will develop hyperglycemia-induced pericyte death and vascular thickening in their eyes. This leads to hyperpermeability of the retinal vasculature leading to edema (accumulation of fluid). The edema will distort vision for patients.

Anti-VEGF therapies have been developed to treat DME. However, close to half of those treated don’t improve or lose efficacy, and these drugs also don’t address other factors that may influence the development of macular edema, such as inflammation.

Therefore, new therapies are needed to improve response rates, as well as address the inflammation observed.

Pathogenesis

Symptom

Issues with Current DME Therapy

Currently approved anti-VEGF therapies will not act on all the different mechanisms associated with DME,such as inflammation and fibrosis4-6. In addition, frequent injections cause a significant treatment burden to the patients. Therefore, there is still an unmet medical need to develop new therapies to benefit patients.

1.JAMA Ophthalmol. 2014, Nov;132(11): 1334–1340. 
2.Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2010, Jan;87(1):4-14.  
3.Source: Roche 2018, 15th angiogenesis meeting at Miami.
4.F1000Res. 2016, May; 27;5.  
5.Retina Today. 2016, July/Aug; 76-78.  
6.New Retina MD. 2016, Oct; 35-36.

Back of the Eye

 
 

Front of the Eye