Druggable Targets and Therapeutic Agents for Disorders of the Back of the Eye

Abstract

The retina and associated supportive tissues must perform large amounts of metabolic work to effectively process visual information. Metabolic imbalances in these tissues can lead to various diseases of the back of the eye that generally involve the interplay of three major processes: inflammation, neovascularization, and degeneration. Improved understanding of these processes within the back of the eye has led to the development of a rather large number of new therapeutics over the last decade and this process shows no sign of slowing down. This chapter summarizes emerging drug targets, new drugs, and drugs undergoing clinical trials for treating various back of the eye diseases including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, infections, and autoimmune uveitis.