Intravitreal injections of conbercept show promise in treating pathological myopia-related vision complications

A clinical trial evaluating intravitreal injections of 0.5 mg conbercept in patients with choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathological myopia (pmCNV) has shown promising results. The study found that the conbercept treatment led to significant improvements in both visual and anatomical outcomes compared to a sham injection.

The study, conducted on 177 patients with pmCNV, employed a randomized 3:1 allocation, with participants receiving either conbercept or a sham injection.

The conbercept group underwent a treatment regimen involving intravitreal injections administered on a pro re nata (PRN) basis after an initial 3 monthly loading doses. In contrast, the sham group received 3 consecutive monthly sham injections, followed by 1 conbercept injection, and subsequently PRN conbercept intravitreal injections.

At month 3, there was improvement in mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). The conbercept group exhibited an enhancement of 12.0 letters (from 54.05 letters to 66.05 letters), while the sham group showed a marginal increase of 0.6 letters (from 49.77 letters to 50.33 letters), highlighting a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). In addition, the mean central retinal thickness (CRT) at 3 months displayed a substantial decrease of 62.0 μm (from 348.90 μm to 286.18 μm) in the conbercept group compared to a modest reduction of 4.4 μm (from 347.86 μm to 343.47 μm) in the sham group (P < 0.001).

At 9 months, the conbercept group demonstrated a further improvement in mean BCVA by 13.3 letters, while the sham group exhibited an increase of 11.3 letters. The mean CRT continued to decrease, with a reduction of 73.6 μm in the conbercept group and 55.9 μm in the sham group (P < 0.001).

The study reported low rates of ocular and nonocular safety events, with the most common ocular adverse events linked to the intravitreal injection procedure, such as conjunctival hemorrhage and increased intraocular pressure.

Reference
Gao L, Song Y, Sun X, et al. Safety and efficacy of intravitreal injection of conbercept for the treatment of patients with choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathological myopia: Results from the SHINY study. Acta Ophthalmol. 2023;doi: 10.1111/aos.15810. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38009430.