Clinical trial for AMD treatments receives funding

A clinical trial that would compare the effectiveness of two treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been funded by Fight for Sight and Euretina.

Researchers led by Professor Timothy Jackson at King’s College London were testing a treatment to clear sight-threatening blood clots that a small percentage of people with wet AMD experience after anti-VEGF injections.

‘Our aim is to find out if surgery is more likely to improve vision than standard care with anti-VEGF injections alone. If the surgery is proven effective, it can be made available to more people and surgeons can use it with greater certainty,’ Jackson said.

The surgical intervention involved dissolving a blood clot with a drug then injecting a bubble of gas into the eye that would float to the back and push the dissolved blood away.