Ophthalmology - Apellis CA

One of humankind’s greatest fears is permanent vision loss.¹ That’s why we are fearless in the fight against vision loss and committed to moving the field forward.

We are leading the way in complement science and believe that targeting complement C3 has the potential to address challenging retinal diseases.

We deeply care about the needs of people living with debilitating retinal diseases. By listening and learning in our interactions with patients, caregivers, and patient advocacy groups, we are able to champion the patient voice throughout the drug development process.

Geographic atrophy (GA) is an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) that leads to progressive and irreversible vision loss and it is the most significant unmet need remaining in the retina.²

AMD is the leading cause of permanent vision loss in people over the age of 65 in developed countries,³ and the risk of developing AMD increases with age. Based on published studies, approximately 5 million people have GA globally.⁴

While there are multiple effective treatments available for neovascular (“wet”) AMD, there are currently no approved treatments for GA in Canada.

In people with GA, photoreceptors, which are light sensitive cells, deteriorate in the macula, a central portion of the retina responsible for central vision and colour perception.⁵ This damage starts as small spots that grow into larger patches. As the cells in the macula die, the person starts to lose vision.⁵

A person with early AMD may notice problems with reading or night vision.⁶ Eventually, if the disease progresses to advanced stages, permanent blind spots (scotomas) in the centre of the visual field will develop.

The cause of GA is thought to be multifactorial, with numerous environmental and genetic risk factors. The dysregulation of the complement cascade, an important part of the body’s immune system, plays a pivotal role.⁶

Excessive activation of the complement cascade results in destruction of healthy cells, which can lead to the onset or progression of many diseases including GA.^7,8

Resources

References

Scott AW, Bressler NM, Ffolkes S, Wittenborn JS, Jorkasky J. Public attitudes about eye and vision health. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2016;134(10):1111-1118.
Fleckenstein M. Mitchell P, Freund KB, et al. The progression of geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration. Ophthalmology 2018;125(3):369-390.
National Eye Institute. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD). https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/eye-conditions-and-diseases/age-related-macular-degeneration. Accessed January 23, 2023.
Tufail A, et al. Objective measurement of reading speed and correlation with patient-reported functional reading independence. Presented at the 15th EURETINA Congress, Nice. France, September 17-20. 2015. Accessed November 21, 2019.
Danis RP, Lavine JA, Domalpally A. Geographic atrophy in patients with advanced dry age-related macular degeneration: current challenges and future prospects. Clin Ophthalmol. 2015;9:2159-2174.
Murphy K, Weaver C. Innate immunity: the first lines of defense. In: Janeway’s Immunobiology 9th ed. London, UK: Garland Science: 2016.
Morgan PB and Harris CL. Complement, a target for therapy in inflammatory and degenerative diseases. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2015:14(12):857-877.
Markiewski MM and Lambris JD. The role of complement in inflammatory diseases from behind the scenes into the spotlight. Am J Pathol. 2007:171(3): 7157-27.