Macular Degeneration - Combination Therapy vs Single Therapy

For example, at the University of California, they are conducting a study called "Pilot Study of Lucentis Combined With Proton Beam Irradiation in Treating Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration."

Macular degeneration researchers think there may be a synergism when therapies are combined. In other words the the combination of two therapies will bring better results than a single or monotherapy can achieve.

The combination therapy may be administering two different drugs, like the CARBON study which is a study to evaluate the combination treatment of Bevasiranib & Lucentis Therapy in Wet AMD.

Or the combination therapy may be two different modalities like the study being done in Italy which is researching the effects of photodynamic therapy combined with Avastin injections.

Most of these studies using combined therapies are looking at anti-vegf drugs, like Lucentis or Avastin along with another drug or another therapy.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is secreted by cells that are oxygen deprived and stimulate the growth of these abnormal blood vessels.

Anti-vegf drugs block the VEGF from stimulating the growth of new, leaky blood vessels for those with wet macular degeneration.

To learn more about the types of anti-vegf drugs used to treat macular degeneration and some of the clinical trials researching anti-vegf therapy click here: Anti-VEGF Therapy and Clinical Trials

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Leslie Degner, RN, BSN

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