Scripps Research study says new strategy for treating retinal diseases shows promise

Scientists at Scripps Research in La Jolla have uncovered a potential new strategy for treating eye diseases that affect millions of people around the world, often resulting in blindness.

Many serious eye diseases — including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and related disorders of the retina — feature abnormal overgrowth of new retinal blood vessel branches, which can lead to progressive loss of vision. It’s a phenomenon called “neovascularization.”

For the past decade and a half, eye doctors have been treating those conditions with drugs that block a protein, VEGF, that’s responsible for spurring new vessel growth. Such drugs have improved the treatment of the conditions but don’t always work well and have potential safety issues.

Scripps Research scientists, in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicated that a new approach that doesn’t target VEGF…