Verteporfin

Verteporfin was introduced in Switzerland as a second-generation photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy of wet age-related macular degeneration in patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularisation. It is constituted of a mixture of two regioisomers resulting from nonselective monohydrolysis of the methyl tetraester. Upon irradiation with a lowenergy nonheat-generating laser light of 689nm wavelength, both regioisomeric benzoporphyrins are responsible for the local generation of single
(2R,2(1)S)-8-ethenyl-2(1),2(2)-bis(methoxycarbonyl)-17-(3-methoxy-3-oxopropyl)-2,7,12,18-tetramethyl-2,2(1)-dihydrobenzo[b]porphyrin-13-propanoic acid is the 2(1),2(2),17-trimethyl ester of (2R,2(1)S)-2(1),2(2)-dicarboxy-8-ethenyl-2,7,12,18-tetramethyl-2,2(1)-dihydrobenzo[b]porphyrin-13,17-dipropanoic acid. It is a beta-substituted porphyrin, a carboxylic acid and a methyl ester. It derives from a (2R,2(1)S)-2(1),2(2)-dicarboxy-8-ethenyl-2,7,12,18-tetramethyl-2,2(1)-dihydrobenzo[b]porphyrin-13,17-dipropanoic acid. It is an enantiomer of a (2S,2(1)R)-8-ethenyl-2(1),2(2)-bis(methoxycarbonyl)-17-(3-methoxy-3-oxopropyl)-2,7,12,18-tetramethyl-2,2(1)-dihydrobenzo[b]porphyrin-13-propanoic acid.|Verteporfin, marketed as Visudyne, is a benzoporphyrin derivative. It is used as a photosensitizer in photodynamic therapy to eliminate abnormal blood vessels in wet form macular degeneration. Verteporfin accumulates in these abnormal blood vessels and, when stimulated by nonthermal red light with a wavelength of 693 nm in the presence of oxygen, produces highly reactive short-lived singlet oxygen and other reactive oxygen radicals, resulting in local damage to the endothelium and blockage of the vessels.|A benzoporphyrin derivative that is used in PHOTOCHEMOTHERAPY to treat wet type MACULAR DEGENERATION.