I remember seeing a poster from a Italian group in ARVO 2013/2012(?) showing that administrating Lucentis/ Avastin in eye drops reduced the edema situation.

Replace, no. But use can be minimized, significantly reduced by new forms of laser treatment such as subthreshold diode micropulse laser (SDM) which are both effective and clinically harmless (without retinal damage or any known adverse treatment effect). Early (preventative) treatment (prior to visual loss or significant macular edema or retinopathy) with modes such as SDM can prevent progression, vision loss, and the need for more aggressive, expensive and less effective therapeutic interventions such as VEGF inhibitors. SDM can be applied transfoveally in eyes with with 20/20 VA without risk or vision loss. Useful for BRVO, CSR, PDR, etc. Investigating use to prevent ARMD as well.

There is a paper of the Iowa university showing the use of nano particles with antiVEGF substances with good results in animal models with intravenous application.

Gene Ther. 2009 May;16(5):645-59. doi: 10.1038/gt.2008.185. Epub 2009 Feb 5.

Intravenous transferrin, RGD peptide and dual-targeted nanoparticles enhance anti-VEGF intraceptor gene delivery to laser-induced CNV.

Singh SR, Grossniklaus HE, Kang SJ, Edelhauser HF, Ambati BK, Kompella UB.