ABSTRACT
As the U.S. population continues to age, more and more persons will become visually impaired from AMD; more, in fact, than from any other eye disease. The Eye Disease Prevalence Research Group predicted that the number of persons with AMD will increase by 50% by 2020 (2). In AMD with CNV, some of the worst losses of vision can occur. Because a large number of individuals have AMD complicated by CNV, effective treatment of even a fraction of all cases can lead to signifi cant savings to society and can decrease the number of people requiring Social Security and other disability payments (not to mention the effects on patients’ dignity and independence), with savings far outweighing the costs of clinical research, management, and treatment.
