title: Scheduled versus Pro Re Nata Dosing in the VIEW Trials.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze visual acuity (VA) outcomes before and after preplanned treatment regimen change in the VIEW studies at week 52 (W52).
  
  
  METHODS
  Multiple post hoc analyses for retrospectively defined subgroups in 2 multicenter, multinational, double-masked trials.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two thousand four hundred fifty-seven neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were randomized to treatment with 0.5 mg ranibizumab given monthly, a 0.5-mg or 2-mg intravitreal aflibercept injection given monthly, or 2 mg intravitreal aflibercept given every other month, after 3 initial monthly doses, up to W52. From W52 through W96, patients received their original dosing assignment using a capped pro re nata (PRN) regimen, with defined retreatment criteria based on VA and morphologic signs of disease activity and mandatory dosing at least every 12 weeks.
  
  
  METHODS
  Best-corrected VA (BCVA) and optical coherence tomography assessments were mandatory at all visits from baseline to W96. Outcomes were changes in BCVA and central retinal thickness. Outcomes were evaluated in all patients who completed 2 years of the VIEW studies using the last observation carried forward method for missing data at interim visits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After W52, approximately 20% of patients lost 5 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letters or more across all treatment arms with PRN treatment. Patients who met the retreatment criterion of loss of 5 ETDRS letters or more in the first quarter of the PRN dosing phase did not recover; mean final VA loss across the 4 study arms was -4.4 to -5.8 letters. Outcomes of these patients up to W52 were indistinguishable from those of the overall population. There were no differences between groups in serious ocular adverse events or Anti-Platelet Trialists' Collaboration arterial thromboembolic events through W96.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These analyses suggest that there are subgroups of patients for whom VA outcomes in the second year of the VIEW studies were less stable than in the first year and for whom W52 seems to be an important inflection point. Although alternate reasons specific to the nature of the underlying AMD cannot be fully excluded, the switch in treatment regimen at W52 is a plausible explanation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: richard@uke.de.
authors.forename: Gisbert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.affiliation: Institut de la Macula i de la Retina, Hospital Quiron Teknon, Barcelona, Spain, and Barcelona Macula Foundation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monés
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Bern, Inselspital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: Service d'Ophtalmologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France; Institut de Santé Publique, d'Epidémiologie et de Développement, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France; Centre Epidemiologie-Biostatistique, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Jean François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Korobelnik
authors.affiliation: Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guymer
authors.affiliation: Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Michaella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.affiliation: Bayer Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Norenberg
authors.affiliation: Bayer Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany; Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Rupert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sandbrink
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Bayer Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zeitz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D058449:Intravitreal Injections; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000069579:Ranibizumab / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019233:Retreatment; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: 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