One-year functional and structural results of faricimab for treatment-naïve neovascular age related macular degeneration: An OCT angiography study.

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the 1-year functional and anatomic outcomes of treatment-naïve neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) eyes undergoing a treat and extend (TAE) regimen with faricimab, METHODS: Prospective interventional study on 33 eyes with treatment-naïve nAMD undergoing a loading phase of 4 monthly faricimab followed by a TAE regimen. Participants underwent functional assessment and retinal imaging with optical coherence tomography and angiography (OCT/OCTA), at baseline and follow-up visits (V0-V5). Primary outcomes were safety, changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central subfield thickness (CST). Secondary outcomes included changes in OCT biomarkers (intraretinal and subretinal fluid [IRF and SRF], maximum pigment epithelium detachment [PED] height) and vascular densities (VD) in the superficial (SCP) and deep capillary plexuses (DCP).

Results: Mean follow-up was 14.1 ± 2.7 months. At the final visit, 36.4% eyes were on a q16w regimen, and 36.4% on q12w. Results showed significant reductions in CST (V0: 334 ± 102 μm, V5: 227 ± 47 μm, p < 0.001), presence of IRF/SRF and PED height. BCVA improved significantly from 0.51 ± 0.23 to 0.36 ± 0.26 LogMAR (p = 0.03). A dry macula after the loading phase was achieved in 63.7% of cases and correlated with longer inter-injections intervals during TAE. SCP's VD showed a transient decrease in V1-V3 but returned to baseline values at V5, while no significant changes were observed in DCP VD. No cases of intraocular inflammation or adverse events were observed.

Conclusion: Faricimab showed favorable results in treatment-naive nAMD, leading to structural and functional improvements and allowing for extended treatment intervals even in real-world setting.