**1. Introduction**

Improving or maintaining visual acuity is the main target of treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Standard nAMD care mandate frequent intravitreal (IVT) antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections, which represents a heavy burden on patients, health systems, and physicians.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries, with a global prevalence of 8.69% [1]. The prevalence of AMD increases with age among all ethnicities and in all geographic regions, as a result of a growing aging population [2].

Age-related macular degeneration is a progressive, chronic, multifactorial disease of the retina that can lead to visual impairment and blindness, mostly affecting individuals aged more than 60 years [3]. The disease progresses from early to advanced stages and can be divided into 2 major advanced forms: neovascular (wet) AMD (nAMD) and geographic atrophy in dry AMD [4]. A smaller proportion of patients with AMD (20%) are diagnosed with nAMD, but it is responsible for the majority (90%) of vision loss cases and presents as acute painless loss of vision [5, 6]. Neovascular AMD is characterized by the presence of choroidal neovascularization (CNV), a pathologic form of angiogenesis resulting in leakage of fluid that accumulates in the retina, subretinally or below the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE); other features include the development of RPE tears, hard exudates, hemorrhage, or fibrous disciform scar tissue formation [7–9].

These clinical abnormalities in patients with nAMD lead to a gradual loss of retinal photoreceptors, resulting in decreased vision and even blindness if disease progression is not prevented [10].

Central vision is the key to variuos daily activities, including a person's ability to read, drive, and recognize faces [11]. The loss of central vision that accompanies AMD greatly affects an individual's quality of life [12].

Deleterious effect of vision loss on an individual's quality of life mandates further development of effective treatment modalities and new molecules to treat nAMD.
