The treatment of wet AMD in Canada: access to therapy (policy review)

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in North America, affecting 2 million Canadians older than age 50 years. AMD is subdivided into 2 types: an atrophic form, so-called "dry" AMD, and an exudative or "wet" form, characterized by the presence of choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Since 2000, after decades with no effective therapy aside from thermal obliterative laser treatment of CNV, 3 new treatments have …