Pegcetacoplan shows potential in early progression to geographic atrophy

In eyes with geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treated with intravitreal pegcetacoplan, there were reduced rates of progression from incomplete retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and outer retina atrophy (iRORA) to complete RPE and outer retinal atrophy (cRORA), according to a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

In this post hoc analysis of the phase 2 multicenter FILLY trial of intravitreal pegcetacoplan, 167 patients with GA secondary to AMD treated with either pegcetacoplan (15 mg) monthly, pegcetacoplan (15 mg) every other month, or sham injection who completed the month 12 study visit and did not develop exudative AMD, were included.

At baseline, iRORA was present in 45% of eyes treated with monthly pegcetacoplan (18 of 40) and at 12 months, 50% of these eyes progressed from iRORA to cRORA (9 of 18).

At baseline, iRORA was present in 61.8% of eyes treated with pegcetacoplan every other month (34 of 55 eyes) and at 12 months, 60.6% of these eyes progressed from iRORA to cRORA (20 of 33).

At baseline, iRORA was present in 50.7% of eyes treated with sham (34 of 67) and at 12 months, 81.8% of these eyes progressed from iRORA to cRORA (27 of 33).

Compared with sham treatment, the relative risk of progression at 12 months from iRORA to cRORA was 0.61 and 0.74 for eyes in the pegcetacoplan monthly group and eyes in the pegcetacoplan every other month group, respectively.

Reference

Nittala MG, Metlapally R, Ip M, et al. Association of Pegcetacoplan With Progression of Incomplete Retinal Pigment Epithelium and Outer Retinal Atrophy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Post Hoc Analysis of the FILLY Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Ophthalmol.  2022. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2021.6067