As in cancer, blood-supply deprivation has been validated as an effective therapeutic approach for patients with ophthalmological diseases in which abnormal blood-vessel pathophysiology plays a key role, e.g., the wet form of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the leading cause of blindness in adults over the age of 50 or polypoidal choroidal neovascularization (PCV).

Several angiogenesis-inhibiting drugs have recently been approved for treatment of wet ARMD, but require direct injection into the eye (intravitreal injection) on a regular basis and can cause side-effects.

A topically-administered anti-vascular drug, such as ZYBRESTAT, could offer significant advantages to patients with PCV, ARMD, and other ophthalmological diseases in which abnormal blood-vessel pathophysiology plays a role. OXiGENE is developing ZYBRESTAT for the treatment of ophthalmological diseases and conditions, with the objective of delivering the drug via a convenient and patient-friendly topical formulation (e.g., eye drops).