Faricimab linked to lower risk of submacular hemorrhage in anti-VEGF study
Faricimab may offer a lower risk of submacular hemorrhage (SMH) compared to other anti-VEGF agents in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), according to a study.
The retrospective clinical study analyzed the rates of SMH in patients receiving anti-VEGF injections (bevacizumab, brolucizumab-dbII, aflibercept, ranibizumab, and faricimab) for nAMD. The study included over 140,000 eyes from a nationwide electronic health care database.
Bevacizumab was associated with the highest rate of SMH (37.8% of cases), while faricimab had the lowest rate at 1.7%. There was a significantly lower risk of SMH with faricimab injections (P = 0.0004).
In addition, patients treated with faricimab or ranibizumab experienced shorter intervals between their last injection and SMH diagnosis. Visual acuity outcomes did not differ significantly across different injection types, both before SMH and at 12 months after.
Reference
Kaufmann GT, Boucher N, Sharma C, et al. Submacular Hemorrhage Rates Following Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Injections for Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Am J Ophthalmol. 2024;S0002-9394(24)00486-0. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2024.10.017. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39455036.
