New Wet Macular Degeneration Treatment Drug FDA Approved

Eyes with wet macular degeneration will try to develop new blood vessels when they are lacking oxygen due to poor circulation or because the tissues are clogged. However, the blood vessels that develop are abnormal and they leak.

When these abnormal blood vessels form behind the retina and start to grow in the macula the leaking blood and fluid cause damage to the macula and results in distorted vision and loss of central vision.

New FDA Approved Anti-VEGF Therapy

Wet macular degeneration treatment currently targets these leaky blood vessels in and around the macula with a class of drugs called anti-VEGF.

VEGF stands for vascular endothelial growth factor which is a protein that stimulates the development of these abnormal blood vessels.

Drugs like Lucentis, Eyelea and Avastin target the suppression of VEGF to halt or slow this blood vessel growth. Now there is a new anti-VEGF drug called Beovu that was FDA approved on October 8, 2019.

What makes Beovu better or different? According to the Novartis press release, "Beovu is the only anti-VEGF in wet AMD recommended to maintain eligible patients on up to three-month dosing intervals immediately after the loading phase with no compromise in efficacy." This means that less frequent eye injections while maintaining vision may be possible for some patients with wet macular degeneration.

Beovu for Wet Macular Degeneration

Leslie Degner, RN, BSN

Better Health for Better Vision

www.WebRN-MacularDegeneration.com

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