Daniel Kiernan, MD: Future of AMD Treatments

While anti-VEGF therapies have cemented their place in the treatment of ophthalmic conditions, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), there is still an onus on reduce treatment burden when developing new treatments.

While aflibercept has solidified its role as the standard, first-line treatment for AMD among most retina specialists for more than a decade, there are multiple treatments seeking to replace aflibercept in that role.

Therapy pipelines have revealed many new therapies, some of which have received approval and others that have moved into phase 3 clinical trials. In recent years, we have seen the approval of a therapy that drastically reduces the frequency of injections and a number of potential therapies seeking to do the same—or even eliminate the need for injections.

Many ophthalmologists are hopeful faricimab will continue to show promise for the treatment of a multitude of ophthalmic conditions. Meanwhile, a phase 3 trial for the Port Delivery System with Ranibizumab is sure to be one of the most anticipated studies in recent years.

To learn more about which therapies retina specialists are most excited about, HCPLive® recently sat down with Daniel Kiernan, MD, a vitreoretinal surgeon with the Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island, to discuss the topic.

HCPLive: What potential therapies for AMD are you most excited about moving forward?

Kiernan: So there is a number of treatments on the horizon that are very exciting and may reduce the treatment burden for patients with wet AMD. Faricimab is a drug that inhibits angiotensin 2 as well as anti-VEGFa subforms. That drug seems to be working at 4-month treatment intervals as opposed to monthly ranibizumab.

That finished the phase 2 trials and showed most patients were able to maintain at 4-month dosing. Its phase 3 trial is completed enrollment—the data is not available yet.

As you eluded to, the Port Delivery System (with Ranibizumab) has very exciting has phase 2 data. The phase 3 ARCHWAY trial is completely enrolled and we're eagerly anticipating results from that.

Other treatment options include a combination of VEGFa and other VEGF subforms dual injection treatment with both ranibizumab and the OPTH-5010 molecule injected on the same day about 30 minutes apart. Data for this 2b study has shown patients have improved visual outcomes with monthly combination therapy compared to monthly ranibizumab alone.