The real-world efficacy and safety of faricimab in neovascular age-related macular degeneration: the TRUCKEE study – 6 month results

• Published in: Eye (London) Vol. 37; no. 17; pp. 3574 - 3581
• Main Authors: Khanani, Arshad M., Aziz, Aamir A., Khan, Hannah, Gupta, Ashwin, Mojumder, Ohidul, Saulebayeva, Aigerim, Abbey, Ashkan M., Almeida, David R. P., Avery, Robert L., Banda, Himanshu K., Barakat, Mark R., Bhandari, Ramanath, Chang, Emmanuel Y., Haug, Sara J., London, Nikolas J. S., Mein, Luke, Sheth, Veeral S., Wolfe, Jeremy D., Singer, Michael A., Danzig, Carl J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.12.2023; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/308/409; 692/699/3161/1626; Acuity; Adverse events; Age; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - adverse effects; Antibiotics; Endophthalmitis; Eye; Humans; Inflammation; Intravitreal Injections; Laboratory Medicine; Macular degeneration; Macular Degeneration - drug therapy; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Ophthalmology; Pharmaceutical Sciences/Technology; Retrospective Studies; Steroid hormones; Surgery; Surgical Oncology; Treatment Outcome; Visual acuity
• ISSN: 0950-222X; 1476-5454
• DOI: 10.1038/s41433-023-02553-5

Background/Objective Investigate real-world patients receiving faricimab for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Subjects/Methods Multicenter, retrospective chart review was conducted on patients treated with faricimab for nAMD from February 2022 to September 2022. Collected data includes background demographics, treatment history, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), anatomic changes, and adverse events as safety markers. The main outcome measures are changes in BCVA, changes in central subfield thickness (CST) and adverse events. Secondary outcome measures included treatment intervals and presence of retinal fluid. Results After one injection of faricimab, all eyes ( n  = 376), previously-treated ( n  = 337) and treatment-naïve ( n  = 39) eyes demonstrated a + 1.1 letter ( p  = 0.035), a + 0.7 letter ( p  = 0.196) and a + 4.9 letter ( p  = 0.076) improvement in BCVA, respectively, and a − 31.3 μM ( p  < 0.001), a − 25.3 μM ( p  < 0.001) and a − 84.5 μM ( p  < 0.001) reduction in CST, respectively. After three injections of faricimab, all eyes ( n  = 94), previously-treated ( n  = 81) and treatment-naïve ( n  = 13) eyes demonstrated a + 3.4 letter ( p  = 0.03), a + 2.7 letter ( p  = 0.045) and a + 8.1 letter ( p  = 0.437) improvement in BCVA, and a − 43.4 μM ( p  < 0.001), a − 38.1 μM ( p  < 0.001) and a − 80.1 μM ( p  < 0.204) reduction in CST, respectively. One case of intraocular inflammation was observed after four injections of faricimab and resolved with topical steroids. One case of infectious endophthalmitis was treated with intravitreal antibiotics and resolved. Conclusions Faricimab has demonstrated improvement or maintenance of visual acuity for patients with nAMD, along with rapid improvement of anatomical parameters. It has been well-tolerated with low incidence of treatable intraocular inflammation. Future data will continue to investigate faricimab for real-world patients with nAMD.