At the Retina World Congress in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Andrew A. Moshfeghi, MD, MBA said that neovascular age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy is estimated to cost the U.S. approximately $21 billion by 2020. Moreover, he said that if management of these conditions does not improve then the direct, indirect, and intangible costs will triple by 2050.

“Age-related macular degeneration will constitute the lion’s share of this amount with a little over $16 billion. Diabetic retinopathy will be about $4.5 billion,” said Moshfeghi.

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