Comparison of Eylea® with Lucentis® as first-line therapy in patients with treatment-naïve neovascular age-related macular degeneration in real-life clinical practice: retrospective case-series analysis.
BACKGROUND
To identify differences between Ranibizumab and Aflibercept in treatment-naïve patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nvAMD) in a real-life clinical setting.


METHODS
We compared two groups of patients with a fairly similar prognosis either receiving Aflibercept or Ranibizumab within a pro re nata regimen for 1 year. Changes in visual acuity (letters) and central foveal thickness (CFT) and frequency of injections after completing the loading phase were evaluated using two separate multivariate mixed linear models.


RESULTS
When correcting for baseline differences between the Aflibercept (11 eyes) and Ranibizumab (16 eyes) group, there was neither divergence in visual acuity (-0.97 letters (95 % CI. -6.06-4.12); p = 0.709), nor a significant difference in the reduction of CFT (-25.16 μm, 95 % CI; (-78.01-27.68); p = 0.351) between the two groups 1 year after treatment initiation. Also, the number of injection did not differ (0.04 (95 % CI; -0.16-0.09); p = 0.565).


CONCLUSIONS
In contrast to health claims, treatment-naïve nvAMD, Ranibizumab and Aflibercept were equivalent in terms of functional and morphologic outcomes and number of injections when studied in real-life clinical practice.
Eye Clinic, Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne, Spitalstrasse, 6000, Lucerne 16, Switzerland. sophie.boehni@luks.ch.
Sophie C
SC
Böhni
Eye Clinic, Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne, Spitalstrasse, 6000, Lucerne 16, Switzerland. mario.bittner@luks.ch.
Mario
M
Bittner
Eye Clinic, Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne, Spitalstrasse, 6000, Lucerne 16, Switzerland. jeremy.howell@luks.ch.
Jeremy P
JP
Howell
Medignition Inc. Research Consultants, Zurich, Switzerland. bachmann@medignition.ch.
Lucas M
LM
Bachmann
Medignition Inc. Research Consultants, Zurich, Switzerland. faes@medignition.ch.
Livia
L
Faes
Eye Clinic, Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne, Spitalstrasse, 6000, Lucerne 16, Switzerland. martin.schmid@luks.ch.
Martin K
MK
Schmid
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005584:Fovea Centralis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D058449:Intravitreal Injections; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D000069579:Ranibizumab / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000187:drug effects; D057135:Wet Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy*
D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; C533178:aflibercept; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; D000069579:Ranibizumab