Efficacy and Safety of Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Monotherapies for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Mixed Treatment Comparison

Cardiovascular risk in anti-VEGF treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration

OBJECTIVE

Assess 5-year all-cause mortality (ACM), hemorrhagic stroke, ischemic stroke, and myocardial infarction (MI) risks in nAMD patients receiving anti-VEGF injections compared with controls.

DESIGN

Population-based retrospective cohort study using a U.S. federated health research network, containing de-identified data of 96 million patients from 1/1/2003 to 3/6/2023.

PARTICIPANTS

nAMD Patients with anti-VEGF injections. Controls included nAMD patients without anti-VEGF injections, non-exudative AMD patients, and patients without AMD.

METHODS

Patients were identified using nAMD ICD-10 and anti-VEGF CPT codes and matched for age, sex, and comorbidities. Five-year relative risk of ACM (RR1), hemorrhagic stroke (RR2), ischemic stroke (RR3), and MI (RR4) in nAMD patients receiving anti-VEGF injections were calculated.

RESULTS

A total of 27,609 nAMD patients (mean diagnosis age [SD], [78.2 (10.3)]) received anti-VEGF injections; 769 nAMD patients without injections (75.8 [12.2]), 27,599 non-exudative AMD patients (78.2 [10.3]), and 21,902 no-AMD patients (76.1 [10.5]) were identified. After matching, nAMD patients receiving injections did not show increased risk versus nAMD patients without injections (RR1, 0.66; 95% CI [0.53, 0.82]), (RR2, 1.00 [0.42, 2.38]), (RR3, 1.70 [0.92,3.13]), (RR4, 0.63 [0.33, 1.18]). No increased risk was found compared to non-exudative AMD patients (RR1, 0.99 [0.95, 1.03]), (RR2, 0.94 [0.83,1.07]), (RR3, 1.04 [0.96, 1.12]), (RR4, 0.99 [0.91, 1.08]). Increased risk for ACM was observed versus no-AMD patients (RR1, 1.21 [1.15, 1.27]), but no other differences were found (RR2, 0.81 [0.70, 0.93]), (RR3, 1.00 [0.92, 1.09]), (RR4, 0.986 [0.90, 1.09]).

CONCLUSION

Anti-VEGF injections were not associated with major cardiovascular events in nAMD patients over 5 years.

Innovations in Diabetic Macular Edema Management: A Comprehensive Review of Automated Quantification and Anti-vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Intervention

Diabetic macular edema (DME) poses a significant threat to the vision and quality of life of individuals with diabetes. This comprehensive review explores recent advancements in DME management, focusing on integrating automated quantification techniques and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) interventions. The review begins with an overview of DME, emphasizing its prevalence, impact on diabetic patients, and current challenges in management. It then delves into the potential of automated quantification, leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve early detection and monitoring. Concurrently, the role of anti-VEGF therapies in addressing the underlying vascular abnormalities in DME is scrutinized. The review synthesizes vital findings, highlighting the implications for the future of DME management. Promising outcomes from recent clinical trials and case studies are discussed, providing insights into the evolving landscape of personalized medicine approaches. The conclusion underscores the transformative potential of these innovations, calling for continued research, collaboration, and integration of these advancements into clinical practice. This review aims to serve as a roadmap for researchers, clinicians, and industry stakeholders, fostering a collective effort to enhance the precision and efficacy of DME management.

Biomimetic, Injectable, and Self-Healing Hydrogels with Sustained Release of Ranibizumab to Treat Retinal Neovascularization

Retinal neovascularization (RNV) is a typical feature of ischemic retinal diseases that can lead to traction retinal detachment and even blindness in patients, in which the vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) plays a pivotal role. However, most anti-VEGF drugs currently used for treating RNV, such as ranibizumab, need frequent and repeated intravitreal injections due to their short intravitreal half-life, which increases the incidence of complications. Herein, a hydrogel intravitreal drug delivery system (DDS) is prepared by a dynamic Schiff base reaction between aminated hyaluronic acid and aldehyde-functionalized Pluronic 127 for sustained release of ranibizumab. The prepared hydrogel system named HP@Ran exhibits excellent injectability, self-healing ability, structural stability, cytocompatibility, and blood compatibility. According to an in vitro drug release study, the hydrogel system continuously releases the model drug bovine serum albumin for more than 56 days. Importantly, in an in vivo rabbit persistent RNV model, the HP@Ran hydrogel system continuously releases pharmacologically active ranibizumab for more than 7 weeks and also exhibits superior anti-angiogenic efficacy over ranibizumab treatment by decreasing vascular leakage and neovascularization at 12 weeks. Thus, the developed HP@Ran hydrogel system possesses great potential for intravitreal DDS for the treatment of RNV.

The Efficacy and Safety of Brolucizumab for the Treatment of nAMD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: As demonstrated in pivotal clinical trials, brolucizumab can be used to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) because it antagonizes vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the vitreous. However, brolucizumab may cause retinal vasculitis obliterans in the presence of inflammation in the eyes. In the present study, a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of brolucizumab.

Methods:ClinicTrail.gov., Embase, Cochrane Library, and PubMed were retrieved from inception until 31 December 2021 for RCTs assessing the efficacy and safety of brolucizumab. Changes in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central sub-field thickness (CSFT) and incidence of adverse events, serious adverse events, and serious ocular adverse events were extracted from eligible RCTs. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4.1.

Results: A total of six RCTs with 3,574 participants were finally involved in this meta-analysis. The changes of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) showed no statistically significant difference between the brolucizumab-treated group and aflibercept-treated group. Brolucizumab induced higher central sub-field thickness (CSFT) reduction than the control agent (aflibercept). The incidence of adverse events was similar between the brolucizumab group and control group (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.37 to 1.08, p = 0.09), and brolucizumab caused fewer serious adverse events (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.95, p = 0.01). However, brolucizumab could lead to more serious ocular adverse events than Lucentis and aflibercept (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.11 to 4.16, p = 0.02).

Conclusion: Brolucizumab was non-inferior to other anti-VEGF agents in improving BCVA and decreasing CSFT. But it caused more serious ocular adverse events which is worthy of special attention by ophthalmologists.

Biomarkers as Predictive Factors of Anti-VEGF Response

Age-related macular degeneration is the main cause of irreversible vision in developed countries, and intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections are the current gold standard treatment today. Although anti-VEGF treatment results in important improvements in the course of this disease, there is a considerable number of patients not responding to the standardized protocols. The knowledge of how a patient will respond or how frequently retreatment might be required would be vital in planning treatment schedules, saving both resource utilization and financial costs, but today, there is not an ideal biomarker to use as a predictive response to ranibizumab therapy. Whole blood and blood mononuclear cells are the samples most studied; however, few reports are available on other important biofluid samples for studying this disease, such as aqueous humor. Moreover, the great majority of studies carried out to date were focused on the search for SNPs in genes related to AMD risk factors, but miRNAs, proteomic and metabolomics studies have rarely been conducted in anti-VEGF-treated samples. Here, we propose that genomic, proteomic and/or metabolomic markers could be used not alone but in combination with other methods, such as specific clinic characteristics, to identify patients with a poor response to anti-VEGF treatment to establish patient-specific treatment plans.