Anti-VEGF injections for eye diseases have a durability problem | ASRS 2026

The mechanism of Zenkuda (tarcocimab) allows the monoclonal antibody to be more durable and boosts early activity of the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to treat patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Approximately 9.7 million people in the United States have diabetic retinopathy, a progressive disease that occurs when damaged blood vessels leak blood and fluid into the retina. Diabetic retinopathy can progress quickly into vision-threatening complications.

Developed by Kodiak Sciences, Zenkuda has completed a second phase 3 trial, GLOW2, of tarcocimab in 255 patients with diabetic retinopathy. This formulation is 80% biopolymer-conjugated and 20% free antibody, a change from the fully conjugated version used in GLOW1.

“Like many pharmaceuticals that many of us take in our society, or get injected into, anti-VEGFs wear off. There is a tremendous unmet need for more durable agents. You see that across the space. There are gene therapies, there are tyrosine kinase inhibitors and there are a lot of slow-release options. This helps address that durability problem. The hope is that in many patients it would allow significant extension of that time between injections,” investigator Charles C. Wykoff, M.D., Ph.D., FASRS, director of research at Retina Consultants of Texas and the Greater Houston Retina Research Foundation, said in an interview ahead of the American Society of Retina Specialists Annual Scientific Meeting, which is being held in Montreal between July 15 and July 18.