New Developments in Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Abstract

Pharmacology is a major bridge between the information that is discovered or created in biomedical research and its application to treat diseases in the clinical setting. Over the past decade, our knowledge about new pharmacologic agents for the treatment of eye diseases has literally exploded into brand new areas made possible by genomics and proteomics. We now have new categories of drugs to treat macular degeneration, glaucoma, and neurodegenerative diseases that did not exist before. Also, there have been many incremental improvements of existing drugs to enhance patient tolerance and compliance. In this issue, we have attempted the challenging task of summarizing the progress to date in the pharmacologic treatment of eye diseases. Accomplishing this ambitious goal would not have been possible without the contributions of our outstanding panel of nationally and internationally renowned experts in ophthalmology, pharmacology, basic science, and clinical research. Each author has comprehensively organized the newest developments in his or her area of specialty explaining pharmacologic mechanisms of action, efficacy, and safety with a clinical orientation for practical applications. Each topical review is intended to be complete and selfcontained. The different topics are roughly organized around the anatomic location of the various eye