Eyeing complement data

Clinical studies of four complement inhibitors in patients with age-related macular degeneration suggest the best target in the pathway may be complement 3. However, differences between study populations and methods and durations of treatment also could have factored into failures of compounds against other targets.

The complement cascade normally boosts immune responses to pathogens and abnormal or dying cells. However, a large body of evidence suggests aberrant activation of the pathway in AMD patients causes chronic inflammation and immune cell-mediated killing of otherwise healthy retinal cells. ...