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Combination therapy as effective as monotherapy, but with fewer treatments needed

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WAILEA, Hawaii — Triple therapy followed by an as-needed regimen is a viable first-line treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration, according to results of a 12-month trial presented here.

Subhransu K. Ray

At the American Society of Retina Specialists, Subhransu K. Ray, MD, PhD, said that there were no significant differences in visual acuity — the primary endpoint — between the combination therapy and monotherapy groups in this masked, randomized, prospective, non-inferiority phase 2b study.

Sixty treatment-naïve patients were initially enrolled. Combination therapy consisted of photodynamic therapy, intravitreal dexamethasone and ranibizumab. Monotherapy consisted of monthly injections of 0.5 mg ranibizumab.

"However, the big difference to note is in total treatments," Dr. Ray said. The monotherapy group received 12 treatments, whereas the triple therapy group required fewer treatments overall, with 10% of those patients not requiring any subsequent treatment.