Popular Drug May Slash Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

The type 2 diabetes medication metformin may help stave off age-related macular degeneration, researchers have found.

They credit the drug’s ability to suppress inflammation and oxidative stress, Science Daily reports. Those factors are known to contribute to age-related macular degeneration, as well as diabetes.

The researchers compared large groups of patients via the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. They looked at people who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes any time between January 2001 and the end of 2013. The ones who took metformin had a significantly lower chance — about half — of developing age-related macular degeneration.

Dr. Yu-Yen Chen, lead investigator for the project, said this study was “the first to reveal the protective effect of metformin on the development of AMD.”

“While more study is required to determine just how metformin protects against the development of AMD, this is an exciting development for patients at risk,” Chen said.

Read more at Science Daily