Department of Ophthalmology

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

Harvard Medical School

Boston, MA

TRANSLATIONAL/PRE-CLINICAL RESEARCH PROJECT

Research Interests

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of central vision loss in people over 50. Globally, it is estimated that approximately 196 million people are affected by AMD, with the majority being in developed countries where the population is aging. In the United States, approximately 11 million people have some form of AMD, with about 1.8 million of them having the advanced form. The standard of care for the treatment of wet AMD is frequent intravitreal injections of antibodies against the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Although these injections retard the development of new retinal vessels, they also gradually cause progressive neuroretinal atrophy and blindness, likely due to the need of life long administration. More recently, bi-specific antibodies that can target two pathways involved in the progression of the disease, such as VEGF and Ang2, were approved by FDA as a more effective therapy for AMD, though clinical data suggest that the new therapy provides marginal improvement in patients.

Plans for 2024

Dr. Paschalis Ilios’ objective is to develop a new therapy for AMD. Along with his colleagues, he has discovered two pathways that cause neovascularization and if blocked simultaneously, can result in complete inhibition of development of new vessels (neovascularization). He is in the final stages of assessing the safety and efficacy of a new bi-specific antibody and if results in 2024 are positive,  Dr. Paschalis Ilios intends to rapidly transition into human clinical trials.