Study compares Lucentis regimens for wet AMD

The treat-and-extend (TE) protocol of Lucentis (ranibizumab) is just as effective as a monthly regimen of ranibizumab when looking at increasing visual acuity in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The 12-month study was conducted in Portugal and led by Rufino Silvia, MD, PhD and involved 650 wet AMD patients aged 50 and older. The patients were in two groups based upon their visual acuity assessment and results of optical coherence tomography with one group receiving the monthly treatments of ranibizumab and the other group received the TE treatments. Results of the study showed that the TE patients received fewer injections compared to the group receiving monthly injections. Both groups noted rapid visual acuity gain during the study with the greatest gain occurring in the first 6 months and this was maintained for the duration of the study.