The new study demonstrates that FDA-approved NRTIs stopped retinal degeneration, and researchers were surprised to find it was a previously unknown property of the drugs that produced the results. (Courtesy of Medical News Today)
(Medical News Today) – Reporting their findings in the journal Science, the international team, led by researchers at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, say because of a previously undiscovered property, the drugs may also be effective against other inflammatory disorders.
A major cause of vision loss among the elderly, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive condition that is untreatable in up to 90% of patients. As AMD progresses, patients find their central vision becomes increasingly blurred and they struggle to read print, recognize people’s faces and drive a car.
There are two types of AMD: dry and wet. Dry is the most common and least serious form – it progresses slowly and accounts for 90% of cases. Wet AMD is more serious, and without treatment can progress very quickly. It develops when abnormal blood vessels invade the retina and cause cell damage.