Devices for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

The recent FDA approval of The Pfizer/Eyetech drug Macugen, which is expected to yield $350 million in its first year on the market, has focused attention on the opportunity in age-related macular degeneration. But AMD isn't only a pharmaceutical opportunity. AMD is a disease of the retina, in the back of the eye, and that presents delivery problems that devices can solve. Device companies are developing drug delivery implants, device therapies, borrowed from the cardiovascular industry, and new photodynamic therapies that aim to rival Visudyne, QLT's laser-activated drug for wet AMD.