Newly diagnosed exudative age-related macular degeneration treated with pegaptanib sodium monotherapy in US...

Studies have shown that early detection and treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NV-AMD) can delay vision loss and blindness. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy/safety of intravitreal pegaptanib sodium monotherapy in treatment-naïve subjects with newly diagnosed NV-AMD and to gain insight into characteristics of lesions treated in community-based practices.

From seven private US practices, charts were retrospectively reviewed on 73 subjects with previously untreated subfoveal choroidal NV-AMD treated with their first dose of pegaptanib monotherapy on/after 4/1/2005 through 6/5/2006, receiving > or =4 treatments at 6-week intervals over 21 weeks. Primary endpoint: mean visual acuity (VA) change from baseline to month 6.

75% of lesions were occult, and 82% were subfoveal. From baseline to month 6, mean VA change was -0.68 lines; 58% and 16% gained > or =0 and > or =3 lines of VA, and 70% were responders (<3 lines lost). In 35 subjects with early disease, 80% were responders with a mean gain of 0.46 lines.

Pegaptanib is effective in real-world patients with treatment-naïve NV-AMD in uncontrolled community-based retina practices.