Emerging roles for antiangiogenesis factors in management of ocular disease

Muhammad Usman Saeed,1 Evangelia Gkaragkani,1 Kashif Ali2 1The Sutton Eye Unit, Epsom and St Helier’s University Hospitals NHS Trust, London, UK; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Chester, UK Abstract: The first antivascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) was developed as an anticancer drug for colonic carcinomas. Since then, anti-VEGFs have developed in scope and indications. They have revolutionized the treatment of exudative macular degeneration and have had a major impact on treatment of several other conditions. This has resulted in an increased number of patients seeking treatment with new treatment options and has had a considerable financial impact on health care resources. Anti-VEGFs have been used in the treatment of all age groups of the population ranging from infants where it is used for treatment of retinopathy of prematurity to the elderly where it is used in exudative macular eegeneration. Keywords: ranibizumab, bevacizumab, pegaptanib, retina, aflibercept, indication