Advertisement

PentaVision

Retinal Physician

Article | 2026 ASRS Meeting

Could Gene Therapy Change Retina Care for Rural Veterans?

Drawing on his experience caring for veterans in northern California, Frank Brodie, MD, MBA, explains why gene therapy may be particularly meaningful for patients who travel long distances for routine anti-VEGF treatment.

By: Frank Brodie, MD, MBA
Retinal Physician July 22, 2026
At ASRS 2026, Frank Brodie, MD, MBA, reflected on how longer-lasting gene therapies like sura-vec (RGX-314) could ease the burden of routine retinal care for veterans and their families.

The following transcript has been edited for clarity.

 

Hi, this is Frank Brodie, MD, MBA. I’m an assistant professor at the University of California San Francisco and a staff surgeon at the Veterans Affairs (VA) in San Francisco.

Something I’m really passionate about is providing care for our rural veterans. One of the big challenges we have is that my veterans live all the way up the California coast. For them, getting routine care for macular degeneration has been really challenging. Some of them will travel more than a day just to see me, get an injection, turn around, and do it again a month later.

I’m so grateful for all the companies developing new, longer-acting therapies. This is going to be a game changer for my patients, for their families, and for management of their disease. I’m particularly grateful to be an investigator for RGX-314 (sura-vec; Regenxbio/AbbVie). I’ve seen firsthand the impact the drug is having in disease management for the patients and for their families, and I’m very excited about this therapy. RP