Research Insights
Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in population older than 50 years of age in developed and developing countries all over the world. Because the life expectancy in these countries is significantly increased, the number of patients affected by this ocular condition was dramatically increased in the past decades and continues to be higher and higher in the years to come.As confirmed on the website of CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA, Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness worldwide, and the leading cause of visual loss and blindness for Americans aged 50 years and older. The number of elder Americans is projected to nearly double from 48 million nowadays to 88 million in 2050 (link to CDC website below):
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https://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/resources/features/macular-degeneration.html
A statistic about “AMD: Facts & Figures” taken from the website of Bright Focus Foundation, a relevant foundation dedicated to fight against blindness, shows in an article from March 2023 that there are nearly 20 million people in the USA diagnosed with a form of AMD, the leading cause of irreversible blindness and visual impairment in the world. Some statistics suggest that the number of people with AMD worldwide is 200 million. The global cost of visual impairment due to AMD raises to $343 billion, including $255 billion in direct healthcare cost. In North America, Canada and Cuba that represents WHO subregion AMR-A, the direct healthcare cost of visual impairment due to AMD is US$98 billion (link to BFF below):
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https://www.brightfocus.org/macular/article/age-related-macular-facts-figures
Given these compelling social and economic realities and implications, AMD is one of the most researched topics in Ophthalmology, in the technical, and in the pharmaceutical industries.
While overwhelming reports confirm the intervention of age in the development of AMD, the multifactorial etiology and pathogenesis are still not fully understood. In the past decade, the research supported more and more the contribution of inflammation in the onset and evolution of the lesions that appear in AMD and are responsible for blindness. As a consequence of the insufficient available technology on the market for objective, accurate and reliable measurements of the retinal lesions, previous research were able to measure on the retinal images mainly the area of central Geographic atrophy (GA). Indeed, GA present in the macula is the most prominent lesion in dry AMD and the top associated lesion in wet AMD, responsible for visual loss in all forms of AMD. But there are much more lesions in AMD than macular GA. These lesions and signs evident on the fundus images in both central and peripheral retina, progress in AMD in parallel with GA, and therefore may be called retinal biomarkers. Their evaluation and pattern of evolution can reveal a specific phase of the disease, can predict a risk level for the disease progression, how efficient a treatment may be in delaying the visual loss, and very importantly, can be further explored for understanding of the AMD pathogenesis. It is worth to mention that retinal biomarkers are explored on all types of retinal images – fundus photos from autofluorescence, color images, fluorescein angiography images, etc, but also on the OCT scans, that is the 3rd dimension of the exploration of retinal lesions in AMD.
It is in direct response to these profound social and economic realities that RetinaTECH Innovations is committed to both basic and clinical research that addresses the technological deficits highlighted above. Our focus is on translating fundamental scientific discoveries into actionable developments with immediate clinical finality, specifically for ophthalmic conditions like AMD. We aim to advance the available technology for objective, accurate measurement of biomarkers not only to aid in preventing blindness but also to provide innovative solutions that can significantly improve the quality of life for patients already in the end stages of disease, where current science often lacks effective solutions.
