Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the majority cause of irreversible vision loss worldwide in older patients.  In particular, the non-exudative forms of AMD, including intermediate AMD, geographic atrophy, as well as atrophy and fibrosis that occurs as complications of exudative AMD, are areas of unmet need and major drivers of legal blindness.  The broad goal of this meeting is to bring together basic scientists, clinician-scientists, and drug-developers working in retinal disease to share data, perspectives, and innovations on how these unmet needs can be addressed.  

Specifically, this meeting aims to:

(1) clarify the cellular and molecular mechanisms contributing to AMD disease progression at each stage,

(2) explore the rationale and evidence supporting individual molecular targets for potential intervention,

(3) discuss the platforms on which therapies for non-exudative AMD can be delivered to patients, and

(4) anticipate the future horizon for available therapies in this area and how this may be expanded.  

Attendees, including trainees and young scientists, will benefit from focused talks and small-group interactions, taking away specific learnings on how non-exudative AMD may be addressed therapeutically. This will cover the range from basis hypotheses on cellular dysfunction to potential and ongoing clinical investigations of therapies and novel platforms currently underway.  

Unlike other existing conferences in the field, this meeting will bring together a cross-disciplinary group of participants from basic, translational, and clinical research to bring focus on one of the largest challenges to healthy vision today.   This will be the only smaller (100-300 attendee) meeting focused on addressing this important unmet need through the involvement of scientists representing the full spectrum of the drug discovery process, from molecular mechanisms to clinical trial design. This Keystone Symposium will be unique in its focus, breadth, and format in bringing together a diverse group of attendees at different levels of training/seniority to confer on understanding and finding treatments for this key retinal disease.

Want to learn a little more about this meeting and some of its speakers? Check out the video below: