Treatment of age-related macular degeneration using inhibitors of complement factor d

A method for inhibiting the loss of visual acuity associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a patient having AMD or at risk for developing AMD due to the presence of an at risk variant in a complement family gene, said method comprising:

• a) identifying said at risk variant in said patient by
• i) obtaining a tissue sample from said patient;
• and
• ii) assaying said tissue sample for the presence of the at risk variant, wherein the presence of the at risk variant indicates an increased risk for the development of AMD or for the progression of dry-AMD to wet-AMD;
• b) administering to a patient identified in step (a) above as possessing the at risk variant a therapeutically effective amount of a composition comprising a complement factor D inhibitor.