New Research from "Down Under"

Many of us with macular degeneration are always on the lookout, all over the world, for promising research into treatments for this disease. Others rely on their specialist to inform them of any new developments, and hopefully mention any clinical trials that might be appropriate for them. Either way, hope for a cure or at least better treatments, is something that keeps most of us going.

My doctor said recently that she thinks a cure will be found in my lifetime, but I have no idea how long she expects me to live!

I regularly receive updates from The Macular Disease Foundation Australia. It has a wealth of information on all aspects of this disease. They are the national peak body for people in Australia living with macular disease. This Foundation is a not-for-profit organization and is a registered charity.

Recent research from Australia

As I was reading through their website, recent research caught my eye because it seemed to be taking an interesting and different approach to other research I had read about. It was conducted “down under” in 2020 and seemed to me to be promising. I don’t have any form of scientific background (unless you count Psychology 101 at university longer ago than I care to remember). The research is quite new, and it sounds encouraging, and it helps me to hear that people are continuing to study macular degeneration treatments and are prepared to take new and innovative approaches. Even though the trials are only at a pre-clinical stage with animals, the researchers feel they have achieved some success.

A summary

I’ve summarised the study in my own (non-scientific) words. A link to the full article is below if you would like to read more.

An international team, led by University of New South Wales (UNSW) medical researchers, under the guidance of Professor Levon Khachigian, have recently conducted an Australian study into the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Vascular endothelial growth factor

Current therapies are either antibodies or protein-based drugs which target a growth system called vascular endothelial growth factor. Many of us have heard of these drugs called anti-VEGF. Most of our community members who have the wet form of AMD currently receive injections of one of these anti-VEGF drugs, including Lucentis, Avastin, or Eylea.

Alternatives

These drugs, however, are not effective for all patients, so an alternative approach was sought.

The UNSW pre-clinical study examined a chemical compound that is different from the antibody and protein content of the anti-VEGF drugs.

What is BT2?

They developed a chemical compound called BT2. This is a small molecular compound, not an antibody or protein-based drug (which the anti-VEGF drugs are).

The results in this study using BT2 found a reduction in retinal fluid leakage (in rodents) at least as good as that achieved with the current treatments. BT2 also seemed to offer broader protection from other retinal vascular issues than the anti-VEGF drugs. A bonus is that this compound could be cheaper to produce and could make treatment costs less expensive. It is also easier to store than the other drugs and can be kept without refrigeration and is able to survive several months sitting in a drawer.

Hope and innovative thinking

There is a lot more to do before clinical trials could start, but this chemical compound sounds promising. It could help those who don’t have much success with the anti-VEGF drugs. So far the studies have only been done on animals, but the researchers are hopeful that BT2 will be safe and effective on humans.

It seems to me that these scientists are “thinking outside the box” which is great because it is well and truly time for some further developments in the treatment of wet macular degeneration.

This is the link to the article on the Macular Disease Foundation website which outlined the study.