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Anti-VEGF Drugs in Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Focus on Dosing Regimen-Related Safety and Efficacy

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Abstract

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the main causes of visual impairment and severe visual loss, and can progress to two advanced forms—neovascularization and atrophic. The field of anti-AMD drugs has undergone huge developments in recent years, from single-target intravitreal administration to current clinical studies with multi-target and non-invasive agents, offering interesting new pharmacological opportunities for the treatment of this disease. Hence, we summarize some of the approved anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs for neovascular AMD, especially their structural characteristics, clinical manifestations, dosing regimens, and safety issues of the anti-VEGF drugs highlighted. In addition, advances in atrophic AMD drug research are also briefly described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Interdisciplinary Integrative Medicine Research, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Haibei Ma & Hai Wei

  2. School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Chunpu Zou

  3. SPH Xingling Sci. & Tech. Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China

    Guoqin Zhu & Qi Gao

  4. Experiment Center for Science and Technology, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cai-lun Rd, Shanghai, China

    Ning Zhang

  5. Center for Pharmaceutics Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica Chinese Academy of Sciences, 501 Hai-ke Rd, Shanghai, China

    Bing Wang

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  1. Haibei Ma
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  4. Guoqin Zhu
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Correspondence to Qi Gao, Ning Zhang or Bing Wang.

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This work was supported by grants from the Program of Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology, China (grant numbers 21ZR1475200 and 21S21901600).

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Haibei Ma, Hai Wei, Chunpu Zou, Guoqin Zhu, Qi Gao, Ning Zhang, and Bing Wang declare that they have no competing interests.

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BW, NZ and QG contributed to the conception of the review; HM contributed significantly to manuscript preparation; and HW, CZ and GZ contributed to the constructive discussions. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Ma, H., Wei, H., Zou, C. et al. Anti-VEGF Drugs in Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Focus on Dosing Regimen-Related Safety and Efficacy. Drugs Aging 40, 991–1007 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40266-023-01068-8

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