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

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.