In a new study, researchers have found a group of drugs that may help stop a leading cause of vision loss.
The drugs, known as Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, or NRTIs, are commonly used to treat HIV.
The new discovery suggests that they may be useful against dry macular degeneration as well, even though a virus does not cause that sight-stealing condition.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Virginia.
In the study, the team reviewed 4 different health insurance databases.
They found that people taking these drugs have a highly reduced risk of developing dry macular degeneration, a condition that affects millions of Americans.
They found the buildup of a certain type of DNA contributes to macular degeneration.
This buildup appears to kill off an important layer of cells that nourishes the retina’s visual cells.
Based on this discovery, the researchers decided to look at drugs that block the production of this DNA, to see if they might help prevent vision loss.
They analyzed multiple U.S. health insurance databases, which encompass more than 100 million patients over two decades, and found that people taking these drugs were almost 40% less likely to develop dry macular degeneration.
The researchers urge further study to determine if these drugs could help prevent vision loss from dry macular degeneration.
One author of the study is Jayakrishna Ambati, MD, a top macular degeneration researcher.
The study is published in PNAS.
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