Aflibercept is reportedly superior to ranibizumab and bevacizumab when treating some patients with diabetic macular edema (DME), according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored clinical trial.
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The study, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that aflibercept (Eylea, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals) was associated with greater improvements in visual acuity when compared with the other two drugs in patients who began the trial with the worst eyesight. When the initial visual-acuity loss was mild, there were no apparent differences among the groups, the study concluded.
“In this comparative-effectiveness, randomized clinical trial of center-involved DME causing decreased visual acuity, treatment with intravitreous aflibercept, bevacizumab (Avastin), or ranibizumab (Lucentis, both from Genentech/Roche) was associated with a substantial improvement in mean visual acuity by 1 month, with the improvement sustained through 1 year with the use of a standardized re-treatment protocol,” the researchers wrote. “On average, greater improvement was seen with aflibercept than with the other agents.”
The National Eye Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the Department of Health and Human Services also sponsored the study.
Further reading: Comparison of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatment Trial (CATT) study
About 660 patients with DME at 89 clinical sites were randomly assigned to receive one of the three treatments once every 4 weeks for the trial. Patients in the study averaged 61 years in age and had some form of diabetes for about 17 years.
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