Title:Biologic Therapy in Inflammatory Eye Conditions (Ophtalmology): Safety Profile
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Author(s): Piergiorgio Neri, Ilir Arapi, Michele Nicolai, Vittorio Pirani, Andrea Saitta, Michele M. Luchetti, Alfonso Giovannini and Cesare Mariotti
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Biologics, immunosuppression, uveitis.
Abstract: Non-infectious uveitis can be a potentially sight threatening disease. Very recently,
therapeutic strategies have turned towards a new methodology, which includes biologic agents. The
introduction of biologic drugs has started a Copernican revolution in ophthalmology: biologic
therapies represent a revolutionary option for those patients who present non-responder, sight
threatening uveitis. The availability of these therapies has improved the uveitis outcome. The present
review shows the most relevant medical literature on biologic agents in ophthalmology, such as tumor
necrosis factor blockers, anti-interleukins and other related biologics. Several papers reported the
efficacy of biologic agents in a large number of refractory uveitides, which suggest a promising role of biologic drugs for
selected cases. On the other hand, the medical literature does not have consistent numbers yet, which hopefully will
validate the promising preliminary results. Biologic agents are not only promising drugs for the treatment of nonresponder
uveitis, but also they show an apparently favourable safety profile, although several topics remain unsolved: it
is still not clear when commencing the treatment, which agent to choose, and the length of biologic therapy. Moreover, the
high costs and the still not clear safety profile have very often limited their use only for severe, non-responder uveitis in
highly specialized uveitis centres.
