Ranibizumab inhibits VEGF

Orlando-The HORIZON Study for retinal vein occlusion (RVO), an extension study composed of patients treated in the BRAVO Study for branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and the CRUISE study for central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), showed that 0.5-mg intravitreal injections of ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) inhibit vascular endothelial growth factor as in previous studies of the efficacy of the drug.

In addition, the visual acuity improvements achieved in the BRAVO study were maintained in the HORIZON RVO study. Carl Awh, MD, presented the findings at the 12-month examination in the HORIZON RVO trial.

A total of 205 patients from the BRAVO Study and 181 patients from the CRUISE Study completed month 12 of the HORIZON RVO Study. During the extension study, BRAVO patients received a mean of 2.5 injections of ranibizumab and CRUISE patients received a mean of 3.8 injections of the drug through month 12. BRAVO patients could also receive laser treatment, and a substantial number did so.

Dr. Awh said that the safety was consistent with previous studies of ranibizumab.

“Long-term treatment of RVO with 0.5 mg ranibizumab during the HORIZON RVO Study was well tolerated, with no new safety events,” Dr. Awh said. “The BRVO patients maintained the improvements in vision and central foveal thickness (CFT) during the HORIZON RVO Study, but the CRVO patients did not. However, in the latter patients there was still an improvement from baseline.”

There were no baseline characteristics predictive of the final visual acuity.

“Unfortunately, the findings are not helpful when evaluating new patients with RVO,” Dr. Awh said.

A couple of data points might be useful: BRVO patients with Snellen visual acuity below 20/40 gained 4 or more letters of vision compared with those with a visual acuity exceeding 20/40, and CRVO patients with a CFT of 400 μm or more gained 12 or more letters compared with those with a CFT below 400 μm.

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