Study terminated by Sponsor

The goal of this study is to assess a battery of visual function tests in subjects with non-exudative age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of visual impairment among elderly populations in developed countries. Majority of AMD patients (80%) suffer from the dry or non-exudative form of the disease. Currently there are no approved treatments for dry AMD. Clinical development of therapeutic agents for dry AMD is limited by slow progressing nature of the disease as well as the lack of sensitive endpoints to assess therapeutic efficacy. Visual acuity, the commonly used functional endpoint, remains minimally affected during early stages of dry AMD. Thus novel visual function endpoints, that can identify functional deficits during early stages of dry AMD prior to development of geographic atrophy, are needed. In the current study a battery of visual function tests will be evaluated in subjects with different stages of dry AMD and normal controls, to assess their sensitivity and feasibility as potential functional endpoints for dry AMD.

Inclusion Criteria:

• All Subjects Must:

  1. Be 60 years of age or older;

  2. Provide written informed consent;

  3. Be willing and able to follow all instructions and attend the study visits;

  4. Must be able to perform all study procedures;

     Normal Subjects:

  5. Have BCVA of 20/25 or better in the study eye;

  6. Have no history or clinical evidence of AMD, retinal diseases or any other ocular pathologies in either eye;

     AMD Subjects:

  7. Have BCVA of 20/40 or better in the study eye;

  8. Have a clinical diagnosis of non-exudative AMD in the study eye;

     Exclusion Criteria:

     All subjects must not have any of the below criteria

  1. Have a diagnosis of wet AMD in the study eye;
  2. Have any other hereditary or acquired retinal diseases in either eye ;
  3. Have glaucoma or other optic nerve diseases in either eye;
  4. Have corneal or other anterior segment diseases in either eye;
  5. Have significant cataract in the study eye;
  6. Have a history of ocular trauma or ocular surgery (other than cataract removal) in the study eye;
  7. Have a history of uncontrolled systemic disease (e.g. poorly controlled hypertension or poorly controlled diabetes);
  8. Have a history of seizures;
  9. On psychotropic medications;
  10. Any other symptoms or conditions that could, in the opinion of the investigator, interfere with study procedures.

Group 1: Normal Population (N=50) VA of 20/25 or better in the study eye with no prior diagnosis of any retinal or ocular diseases.

Group 2: Early Dry AMD Population (N=50) VA of 20/40 or better in the study eye with clinical diagnosis of early dry AMD based on fundus features.

Group 3: Intermediate Dry AMD Population (N=50) VA of 20/40 or better in the study eye with clinical diagnosis of intermediate dry AMD based on fundus features.

Group 4: Advanced Dry AMD Population (N=50) Clinical diagnosis of advanced dry AMD based on fundus features in the study eye