Visual acuity not maintained with anti-VEGF

A follow-up study was conducted to determine the long-term benefit and visual acuity outcomes of patients undergoing anti-VEGF treatments, such as Eyelea, Lucentis and Avastin. What researchers found was that visual gains were not maintained after 5 years of injections. Records of 647 patients with wet AMD were analyzed in the Comparison of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatment Trials. Patients had received either Lucentis or Avastin injections on a monthly basis. The five-year follow-up found that the mean change in visual acuity had dropped three letters from the initial baseline and there was a loss of eleven letters over two years. Researchers noted that their ability to accurately assess the differences between the drugs and treatment course was affected by the fact that most patients were treated with a different drug and dosing strategy after two years of treatment than what they originally started out with.