Emerging treatments researched at the Dean McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma City and others top vision research centers nationwide are helping thousands faced with vision loss.

Among the new treatments is Macugen, a new drug recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It has been shown to slow vision loss in people with the most severe form of macular degeneration and is providing new hope for those with the disease.

There are an estimated 15 million people in the United States living with macular degeneration, an eye disease associated with aging that destroys central vision, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

“Macular degeneration basically is in two different types,” explained Robert Leonard, MD and an ophthalmologist with OU Physicians and Dean McGee. “There is the dry type of macular degeneration, which is the most common type in the US. It is a mild, degenerative process that occurs slowly over many years and most patients retain reasonable vision.”

According to Leonard, there is also what’s commonly referred to as wet macular degeneration. In that form, irregular blood vessels grow under the center of the retina. Those blood vessels can leak fluid and form scar tissue, leading to a rapid, often irreversible form of vision loss.”

“Fortunately, that’s the less common form,” Leonard remarked, “but it’s responsible for most (80%) of the severe vision loss in the US.”

Dean Bartel of Stillwater is no stranger to the disease. His father was diagnosed with macular degeneration at the age of 83. He went to see Leonard on the advice of a friend after he had begun to notice that he was having problems with his vision.

“Well, I’m a little active in the country and driving nails and fixing fences and those kind of deals – I just wasn’t seeing right,” Bartel said. “I would drive a nail and about every one I’d drive, I’d bend it over because I just didn’t see a straight line. You see my focus, my perception was off, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I got to where I had to reach out and hit where I was holding the nail you see.”

Bartel is now receiving Macugen injections regularly in an effort to slow the progression of his disease.
“It is actually a drug that acts like an antibody,” said Dr. Robert Leonard, of OU Physicians at the Dean McGee Eye Institute. “To get it in concentration high enough to be effective, it has to be injected into the eye itself.”

He explained Macugen works by blocking vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein in the body that promotes blood vessel growth. Patients receive injections of the drug once every six weeks.
“This drug inhibits the VEGF in the eye that’s being produced so the signal for blood vessel growth gets cut off and they can actually regress,” Leonard said.

Clinical studies show that it has the potential for helping all patients with the wet form or neovascular macular degeneration.

For patients like Bartel, the new drug means a chance to potentially keep what is left of his vision longer.
“My goal is probably arresting it (macular degeneration) where it is or else being able to see just a little bit better than I do now,” Bartel said. “I do notice a difference.”

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, 520,000 people worldwide lose their eyesight because of macular degeneration every year.

Deterioration of the macula results in blurry vision when a person looks directly at an object; peripheral or side vision is unaffected. Macular degeneration developing in one eye usually indicates that the other eye is also in danger of developing the disease.

Leonard said there’s increased interest in the development of new therapies and more effective therapies for treating the wet form of macular degeneration.

Macugen is one of the first in a number of new drugs to make it to market that are focused on treating the causing factor in wet macular degeneration, Leonard said. Dean McGee Eye Institute is actively involved in ongoing clinical trials aimed at improving care and outcomes in people with macular degeneration and other diseases of the eye, making emerging treatments available to Oklahomans sooner.

“At the present time at Dean McGee, we’re enrolling in numerous trials and these trials may be much better,” Leonard said. “Some of these involve combination agents – these may be much better than anything currently on the market.”

Bartel said participation in the clinical trials brings hope for him and future generations.
“I don’t have a lot of vision left anyway and I’ve seen most things I need to see. So, if I can do this for the sake of my son and my grandsons, it’s well worth it,” Bartel said.

For more information on the clinical trials available at Dean McGee Eye Institute, visit the Institute’s website at: www.dmei.org.