Article · Volume 4, Issue 4S · pp. S38–S39

Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs safety and efficacy in ophthalmic diseases

Pasquale Ventrice^1,2, Christian Leporini^1,2, Jose’ Francisco Aloe³, Ettore Greco⁴, Giacomo Leuzzi^1,2, Giuseppina Marrazzo^1,2, Giovanni Battista Scorcia⁵, Donatella Bruzzichesi⁵, Varano Nicola⁵, Vincenzo Scorcia⁵

¹Department of Science of Health, School of Medicine, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy.
²Department of Science of Health, Pharmacovigilance’s Centre Calabria Region, University Hospital Mater Domini, Catanzaro, Italy.
³Pharmacy Unit, Giovanni Paolo II Hospital, Lamezia Terme, Italy.
⁴Oncology Unit, Giovanni Paolo II Hospital, Lamezia Terme, Italy.
⁵Department of Ophthalmology, University of “Magna Graecia”, Catanzaro, Italy.

Abstract

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries. In the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has emerged as a key target for therapy. The intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF drugs has been widely employed to reduce the disease progression and improve the visual outcomes of the affected patients. However, each intravitreal inoculation poses a risk of several complications as infection, inflammation, endophthalmitis, intraocular inflammation, increase of intraocular pressure and vitreous hemorrhage. This short review evaluates the efficacy and the incidence of adverse drug reactions related to intravitreal administration of the main anti-VEGF drugs actually available: Bevacizumab, ranibizumab and aflibercept.

Keywords: Adverse drug reactions; aflibercept; age-related macular degeneration; bevacizumab; choroidal neovascularization; ranibizumab

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