New Retaane trial kicks off

The Anecortave Acetate Risk Reduction Trial (AARRT) has met its patient enrollment requirement of almost 2,600 individuals who are at high risk for developing choroidal neovascularization (CNV) or advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) over time, reported Jason Slakter, MD, of the Vitreous-Retina-Macular Consultants of New York, USA, at the 2006 meeting of the AAO in Las Vegas.

"Anecortave acetate (Retaane, Alcon Laboratories) was chosen for this trial based on preclinical data that suggest that this molecule inhibits new blood vessel formation by striking multiple targets in the angiogenic cascade," Dr Slakter said. "In addition, the drug has an excellent safety profile making it ideal for chronic, long-term suppressant therapy".

The drug is administered every six months, outside the eye. Two concurrent clinical trials on anecortave acetate are now ongoing with patients in one study receiving a 15 mg dose or sham administration and the other set of patients receiving a 30 mg dose or sham. The trials will follow patients for four years.

"Interestingly, 86% were using some type of vitamins. However, only about 50% of the patients were using the AREDS formulation," Dr Slakter noted. At baseline the average visual acuity in the study eye was 20/25 and in the non-study eye it was 20/200. Forty-six percent of patients had active disease in the non-study eye at baseline and 92% had subfoveal involvement.