Drugs to Stop Blood Vessel Growth Wet AMD can be treated by injecting a drug that inhibits the growth of new blood vessels into the center portion of the eye. The drug blocks a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, that promotes the growth of new blood vessels. Choose another disease or condition... Allergic Rhinitis Allergies, Food Allergy & Asthma Center Alzheimer's Disease Anxiety Aortic Aneurysms Arrhythmia Arthritis, Osteo- (OA) Arthritis, Rheumatoid (RA) Asthma Atopic Dermatitis Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Back Pain Brain Tumor Bones, Joints & Muscles Center Breast Cancer Brain & Behavior Center Brain Tumor Cancer Center    Brain Tumor    Breast Cancer    Cancer Prevention    Clinical Trials    Colorectal Cancer    Endometrial Cancer    Living With and Beyond Cancer    Lung Cancer    Prostate Cancer    Skin Cancer Cardiomyopathy Cataracts Cholesterol Control Clinical Trials Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Colorectal Cancer Congenital Heart Disease Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) Crohn's Disease Depression Diabetes Center Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Digestive Disorders Center Eczema Endometrial Cancer Erectile Dysfunction (ED) Eye & Vision Center Fibromyalgia Food Allergies Gallstone Disease Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) GERD Glaucoma Hay Fever Headache Heart Center Hepatitis A Hepatitis B Hepatitis C High Blood Pressure Hypertension Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) Impotence Insomnia Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Living With and Beyond Cancer Losing Weight Lung Cancer Macular Degeneration Memory Loss Osteoarthritis (OA) Osteoporosis Parkinson's Disease Peptic Ulcer Prediabetes Prostate Cancer Respiratory Disorders Center Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Sexual & Reproductive Health Center Sinusitis Skin Cancer Sleep Apnea Sleep Center Stroke Type 1 Diabetes Type 2 Diabetes Ulcerative Colitis (UC) Weight Control More on eyes in our Eye and Vision Center Macular Degeneration-Related Clinical Trials Information Email this page Print this section

Two anti-VEGF drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat wet AMD. Both of these drugs, pegaptanib (Macugen) and ranibizumab (Lucentis), are injected into the jellylike central part of the eye and have been shown to slow the progression of the disease. These drugs have also been shown to reverse some of the effects of the disease. As many as 35 percent of patients who receive a monthly injection of ranibizumab, for example, experience improvements in their vision. Although pegaptanib has an advantage of somewhat less frequent dosing, it appears to be less effective for improving vision. The two drugs have not been directly compared.