Anti-VEGF for the Management of Diabetic Macular Edema

Table 1

Anti-VEGF agents.

Anti-VEGF agents	Mechanism of action	Molecular weight	FDA approval
Pegaptanib; sodium (Macugen)	Selective VEGF antagonist (165 isoform).	50 kDa	AMD (2004)
Ranibizumab; (Lucentis)	Recombinant humanized IgG1 kappa antibody fragment. Inhibits all isoforms of human VEGF-A.	48 kDa	AMD (2006); RVO edema (2010); DME (2012)
Bevacizumab; (Avastin)	Full-size, humanized, recombinant monoclonal IgG antibody. Inhibits all isoforms of human VEGF-A.	149 kDa	Off-label use in ophthalmology
Aflibercept; (Eylea)	Fully human recombinant fusion protein. Inhibits all isoforms of human VEGF-A and B as well as binds placental growth factors 1 and 2.	115 kDa	AMD (2011); RVO edema (2012)

RVO: retinal vein occlusion.