Ranibizumab in neovascular age-related macular degeneration

Kenneth T Eng^1,3,4, Peter J Kertes^2,3

¹Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, Canada; ²Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada; ³Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada; ⁴Department of Ophthalmology, Queen’s University, Canada

Abstract: Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a visually devastating condition resulting from choroidal neovascularization and secondary photoreceptor loss. Ranibizumab and bevacizumab are medications that target vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). While other therapies have demonstrated some ability to reduce the risk of losing vision from neovascular AMD, most patients continue to lose some degree of central visual acuity. There is growing evidence that intravitreal administration of ranibizumab and bevacizumab is effective in significantly improving the visual acuity in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Keywords: age-related macular degeneration, choroidal neovascularization, ranibizumab, bevacizumab.