2022 Retina Pipeline: A View Into Ongoing Innovation

2022 Retina Pipeline: A View Into Ongoing Innovation [Interactive]

A new layout of the complement cascade highlights the major changes to this year’s two-sided poster.

Content guidance and source: Peter K. Kaiser, MD; Marielle Mahan, MD

This content originally ran as a poster in the November/December issue. Check out the print publication to view the full size poster.

Dry AMD Pipeline

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Wet AMD Pipeline

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Watch as Peter K. Kaiser, MD, explains the poster and follow along with graphics below.

The retina community should be proud that it continues to educate itself rather than rest on the educations we received in our training. Yes, it comes naturally to us—we’re a scientifically curious group by nature, and there is no shortage of vitreoretinal mysteries waiting to be unlocked—but it also requires time and effort. With this year’s iteration of the annual age-related macular degeneration (AMD) pipeline poster, we hope to make that education a bit easier.

It became clear that a deepened understanding of the complement cascade will be foundational for our practice if a therapy for geographic atrophy is approved by regulatory bodies, so we thought it was best to create a more specific schematic for readers this year (Figure).

The limitations of a 2-dimentional illustration of the complement cascade should be noted; we addressed them the best we could. For example, the alternative pathway reactions occur on the surface of a cell, not in the extracelluar space around it. Still, we think this year’s depiction of the complement cascade will provide an excellent reference point for readers who need a refresher on a biologic cascade many of us haven’t considered at length since our medical training.

The next generation of ophthalmologists will be instrumental to continuing the tradition of continued education. To that end, Marielle Mahan, MD, joined the team responsible for creating the poster this year. As an ophthalmology resident with a talent for artistic depictions, Dr. Mahan led the charge in redesigning the complement cascade schematic. Her future in ophthalmology is bright, and we’re happy to have her included on the team this year.

Remember that the drugs listed in this poster are not exhaustive. If there is a drug that you think we should include in next year’s poster, email us at cdeming@bmctoday.com.

Figure. Drs. Kaiser (left) and Marielle Mahan (right) meet with Retina Today at the famous Café du Monde in New Orleans to sketch the pipeline poster.