Studying intermediate-stage AMD
Development of clinical endpoints for clinical trials in intermediate AMD


Roibeard O’hEineachain
Published: Saturday, September 1, 2018

[caption id="attachment_12567" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Colour fundus photograph showing intermediate AMD[/caption]
Structural assessments of the retina will include high-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT), confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy including fundus autofluorescence and OCT angiography.
A subset of patients will be examined using quantitative autofluorescence and swept-source OCT and also adaptive optics. Functional tests include visual acuity, mesopic and scotopic microperimetry, reading speed, Moorfields Acuity Test (vanishing optotypes) and also navigation performance.
Traditionally, AMD is diagnosed based on structural analysis of the retina via clinical exam along with OCT or fundus photography. Stages of the disease are typically categorised by drusen characteristics and the presence of pigmentary changes. Over the past decades, research has shown that before the development of late-stage AMD rod function or dark adaptation may be impaired. Such functional impairments will be assessed in depth in the context of the study.
The MACUSTAR is being funded with €16 million by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), which is the biggest public-private partnership in life science. Within the European Framework Research Programme Horizon 2020, IMI is funded jointly by the European Commission and EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations). The MACUSTAR consortium includes researchers from academic institutions in the Netherlands, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom. It also includes four industrial companies: Bayer, Zeiss, Novartis and Roche.
Frank G. Holz: Frank.Holz@ukbonn.de
www.macustar.eu

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