Peter Simcock attended the annual retinal meeting in Florence to keep up to date with the latest developments in retinal care (someone has to do it!). One particularly exciting area of research is the development of new ways to deliver treatment for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Currently, treatment usually involves regular injections into the eye of drugs known as anti-VEGF agents. However, gene therapy offers the prospect of a very different approach. A single procedure could potentially introduce genetic material that enables the eye to produce its own anti-VEGF medication continuously, significantly reducing or potentially eliminating the need for repeated injections.

Although important safety questions remain to be answered, progress in this field is encouraging. With advances in research, including the growing use of artificial intelligence, these innovative treatments may become a reality for patients in the coming years. The prospect of reducing the burden of regular eye injections could represent a major step forward in the management of wet AMD.