Idebenone increases chance of stabilization/recovery of visual acuity in OPA1-dominant optic atrophy.

We previously documented that idebenone treatment in OPA1-Dominant Optic Atrophy (OPA1-DOA) led to some degrees of visual improvement in seven patients. We here present the results of a cohort study, which investigated the effect of off-label idebenone administration in a larger OPA1-DOA group compared with untreated patients. Inclusion criteria were: OPA1-DOA clinical and molecular diagnosis, baseline visual acuity (VA) greater than/equal to counting fingers and treatment duration greater than 7 months. We found a significant difference between the last visit and baseline VA in favor of stabilization/recovery in idebenone-treated as compared to untreated patients. This effect was retained after controlling for confounders.