The ERG in drug development: translation from animal models to human

Excerpt

Drug development is a long and complex process with a low likelihood of success. In order to allocate resources to compounds that will provide significant improvement to patients, it is imperative to develop measures that are predictive of clinical efficacy and safety. In the development of therapies for diseases of the retina, the electroretinogram (ERG) is a technique that is well suited to provide such information. As a functional measure, the ERG is more closely related to accepted behavioral endpoints than structural measures such as optical coherence tomography, and fluorescein angiography. Unlike most other measures of visual function, the ERG is easily obtained in animal models. These characteristics make the ERG a good biomarker to suggest the safety and efficacy of new treatments of retinal diseases. The ERG is also a sensitive measure of toxic effects of systemic therapies on the retina. …