Enhancing Outcomes and Reducing Treatment Burden with Advanced Therapies in Neovascular AMD and DME

Panelists discuss how anti-VEGF therapies have dramatically improved visual outcomes in patients with age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema over the past decade. Key challenges persist, including treatment burden, adherence, and identifying optimal dosing regimens for individual patients.

Panelists discuss how aflibercept’s molecular structure contributes to its clinical efficacy as a standard treatment for retinal vascular diseases.

Panelists discuss how treat-and-extend dosing with aflibercept 2 mg allows for individualized treatment intervals while maintaining vision gains. However, optimal extension timing must be carefully determined based on disease activity markers.

Panelists discuss how aflibercept 8 mg demonstrates improved durability and maintenance of visual gains compared with 2-mg dosing, potentially reducing treatment burden while maintaining a similar safety profile.

Panelists discuss how the aflibercept 8 mg higher molecular concentration enables extended durability through increased VEGF binding capacity and longer intraocular drug levels, potentially allowing for less frequent dosing while maintaining efficacy.

Panelists discuss how the phase 3 PULSAR and PHOTON trials demonstrated the efficacy of aflibercept 8 mg through a design comparing 12- and 16-week dosing intervals to the aflibercept 2 mg standard 8-week dosing, with primary end points assessing noninferiority in visual acuity maintenance.

Panelists discuss how ideal candidates for aflibercept 8 mg include patients with stable disease on current anti-VEGF therapy who seek reduced treatment burden, newly diagnosed patients, and those demonstrating good response to initial loading doses.

Panelists discuss how faricimab’s bispecific antibody design uniquely targets both VEGF-A and Ang-2 pathways, addressing the complementary role of Ang-2 in vascular destabilization and inflammation in retinal diseases.

Panelists discuss how faricimab’s dual inhibition of Ang-2 provides additional benefits in vascular stability and inflammation reduction beyond VEGF-A suppression alone, potentially leading to improved durability and treatment outcomes in selected patients.

Panelists discuss how both medications demonstrate favorable safety profiles in clinical trials, with aflibercept 8 mg benefiting from extensive 2-mg safety data, while acknowledging the need to monitor intraocular pressure due to increased injection volume, particularly in at-risk patients.

Panelists discuss how real-world evidence provides crucial insights into treatment effectiveness across diverse patient populations and clinical settings while highlighting challenges in maintaining clinical trial protocols’ stringent adherence and monitoring in everyday practice.

Panelists discuss how loading doses remain crucial for treatment-naive patients to achieve rapid disease control, while patients switching therapies may require modified approaches based on their prior treatment response and disease activity.

Panelists discuss how longer-acting treatments will enable extended intervals between visits while requiring careful adjustment of monitoring protocols and clinic workflows to balance reduced treatment burden with maintaining adequate disease surveillance.