Research News
BrightFocus Foundation celebrates the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Syfovre (pegcetacoplan injection), the first-ever treatment to slow the progression of vision loss from geographic atrophy, an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration and a leading cause of blindness.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for a new treatment that could slow the progression of geographic atrophy, an advanced and severe form of dry age-related macular degeneration that can lead to permanent vision loss.
David Liao, MD, offers insights into managing and understanding AMD and what forthcoming FDA approval could mean for treatment.
If approved, the drug pegcetacoplan would become the first-ever treatment in the U.S. for geographic atrophy, a blinding and advanced form of age-related macular degeneration.
A team including two BrightFocus grantees has successfully transplanted a patch of retinal tissue into a patient with geographic atrophy. This experimental therapy was part of an NIH clinical trial and marks the first time in the U.S. that stem cells derived from a patient’s own tissue have been used to replace eye cells.
A new oral pill for geographic atrophy is being tested in an early-stage clinical trial.
