Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) Treatments

Serious adverse reactions related to the injection procedure have occurred in < 0.1% of intravitreal injections, including endophthalmitis [

Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of the same or another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice.

The data below reflect exposure to 0.5 mg ranibizumab in 440 patients with neovascular AMD in Studies AMD-1, AMD-2, and AMD-3; in 259 patients with macular edema following RVO.

Safety data observed in 224 patients with mCNV, as well as Studies AMD-4 and D-3, were consistent with these results. On average, the rates and types of adverse reactions in patients were not significantly affected by dosing regimen.

The observed incidence of anti-drug antibodies is highly dependent on the sensitivity and specificity of the assay. Differences in assay methods preclude meaningful comparisons of the incidence of anti-drug antibodies in the studies described below with the incidence of anti-drug antibodies in other studies, including those of ranibizumab or of other ranibizumab products.

The pre-treatment incidence of immunoreactivity to ranibizumab was 0%-5% across treatment groups. After monthly dosing with ranibizumab for 6 to 24 months, antibodies to ranibizumab were detected in approximately 1%-9% of patients.

The clinical significance of immunoreactivity to ranibizumab products are unclear at this time. Among neovascular AMD patients with the highest levels of immunoreactivity, some were noted to have iritis or vitritis.

Intraocular inflammation was not observed in patients with RVO patients with the highest levels of immunoreactivity.

The following adverse reactions have been identified during post-approval use of ranibizumab products. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure.

The safety and efficacy of ranibizumab were assessed in three randomized, double-masked, sham- or active-controlled studies in patients with neovascular AMD. A total of 1323 patients (ranibizumab 879, control 444) were enrolled in the three studies.

The safety and efficacy of ranibizumab were assessed in two randomized, double-masked, 1-year studies in patients with macular edema following RVO. Sham controlled data are available through Month 6. Patient age ranged from 20 to 91 years, with a mean age of 67 years. A total of 789 patients (ranibizumab 0.3 mg, 266 patients; ranibizumab 0.5 mg, 261 patients; sham, 262 patients) were enrolled, with 739 (94%) patients completing through Month 6. All patients completing Month 6 were eligible to receive ranibizumab injections guided by pre-specified re-treatment criteria until the end of the studies at Month 12.

In Study RVO-1, patients with macular edema following branch or hemi-RVO, received monthly ranibizumab 0.3 mg or 0.5 mg intravitreal injections or monthly sham injections for 6 months. All patients were eligible for macular focal/grid laser treatment beginning at Month 3 of the 6-month treatment period. Macular focal/grid laser treatment was given to 26 of 131 (20%) patients treated with 0.5 mg ranibizumab and 71 of 132 (54%) patients treated with sham.

In Study RVO-2, patients with macular edema following central RVO received monthly ranibizumab 0.3 mg or 0.5 mg intravitreal injections or monthly sham injections for 6 months.

At Month 6, after monthly treatment with 0.5 mg ranibizumab, the following clinical results were observed:

The efficacy and safety data of ranibizumab were assessed in a randomized, double-masked, active-controlled 3- month study in patients with mCNV. Patients age ranged from 18 to 87 years, with a mean age of 55 years. A total of 276 patients (222 patients in the ranibizumab treated Groups I and II; 55 patients in the active control PDT group) were enrolled. Patients randomized to the ranibizumab groups received injections guided by pre- specified re-treatment criteria. The retreatment criteria in Group I were vision stability guided, with the Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) at the current visit being assessed for changes compared with the two preceding monthly BCVA values. The retreatment criteria in Group II were disease activity guided, based on BCVA decrease from the previous visit that was attributable to intra- or sub-retinal fluid or active leakage secondary to mCNV as assessed by OCT and/or FA compared to the previous monthly visit.

Visual gains for the two ranibizumab 0.5 mg treatment arms were superior to the active control arm. The mean change in BCVA from baseline at Month 3 was: +12.1 letters for Group I, +12.5 letters for Group II and +1.4 letters for the PDT group. (Figure 6; Table 6). Efficacy was comparable between Group I and Group II.

The proportion of patients who gained ≥15 letters (ETDRS) by Month 3 was 37.1% and 40.5% for ranibizumab Groups I and II, respectively and 14.5% for the PDT group. The mean number of injections between baseline and Month 3 was 2.5 and 1.8 for Groups I and II, respectively. 41% of patients received 1, 2 or 3 injections between baseline and Month 3 with no injections afterwards.