Super-dose anti-VEGF (SAVE) trial: 2.0 mg intravitreal ranibizumab for recalcitrant neovascular macular degeneration-primary end point

Abstract

Purpose: To determine whether a higher dose of intravitreal ranibizumab could improve the anatomy and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with persistent disease activity despite monthly intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections.

Design: Phase I to II multicenter, open-label, controlled clinical trial.

Participants: Eighty-seven patients with recalcitrant neovascular AMD, defined as having leakage on fundus fluorescein angiography or spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) despite monthly anti-VEGF injections.

Methods: Patients were treated with 2.0-mg ranibizumab injections monthly for 3 doses and monitored with Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) 4-m refractions, clinical examinations, and SD-OCT.

Main outcome measures: The mean change in baseline visual acuity (VA), the percentage of patients who experienced a loss or gain of 15 or more letters in ETDRS BCVA, the mean change in central retinal thickness, and the incidence of adverse events.

Results: Eighty-seven patients with an average of 24 injections before enrollment and a mean of 10.4 injections in the preceding 12 months had a mean refracted VA of 69.2 ETDRS letters (20/41 Snellen) and a mean central subfield of 422 μm at baseline. Mean VA gain over baseline was +2.5 letters at day 7 (n = 82), +3.7 letters at month 1 (n = 87), +3.9 letters at month 2 (n = 87), and +3.3 letters at month 3 (20/36 Snellen; P = 0.001; n = 86). Anatomic outcomes showed a mean optical coherence tomography central subfield thickness improvement from baseline of -48.4 μm at day 7 (n = 84), -37.5 μm at month 1 (n = 87), -42.4 μm at month 2 (n = 85), and -33.1 μm at month 3 (P = 0.01; n = 86).

Conclusions: Intravitreal injections of 2.0 mg ranibizumab led to statistically significant VA gains and anatomic improvement in patients with persistent intraretinal, subretinal, or subretinal pigment epithelial fluid during a previous regimen of chronic monthly 0.5-mg ranibizumab injections.