Introduction

Sight loss and blindness is a very prevalent cause of disability. Retinal diseases leading to visual loss affect many people worldwide and the search for adequate drugs remains a challenge and an important area of interest in the drug discovery field. This book addresses approaches to the treatment of retinal diseases, targeting common processes and components. Despite their causative origins, which comprise genetic dystrophies, age-related degenerations, as well as pathologies associated with other diseases, a neurodegenerative component appears, sooner or later, in the course of the disease. As is the case for most neurodegenerative diseases, the available treatments are far from satisfactory. The aim of this book is to highlight research and drug development efforts in targeting such common processes as a potential path to provide treatments to the millions of affected people.