QLT reports promising preliminary results for combination CNV treatment

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A phase 2 study evaluating photodynamic therapy combined with injection of a VEGF inhibitor for treating patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration shows promising 6-month results, according to a press release from QLT, the study's sponsor.

The study randomly assigned 36 patients to receive either low-fluence Visudyne (verteporfin, Novartis/QLT) PDT followed by Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech), very low-fluence PDT followed by bevacizumab or bevacizumab alone. Of these patients, 35 completed 6-month follow-up.

Surgeons administered the intravitreal bevacizumab injections within 2 hours after the initial PDT treatment, with PDT re-treatments performed at months 3, 4, 5 or 6, with a minimum 3-month interval between each PDT or sham PDT treatment, according to the release.

At 6 months, patients in the two PDT groups required significantly fewer re-treatments than those treated with bevacizumab monotherapy.

The bevacizumab monotherapy group received an average of 5.1 treatments compared with 2.8 treatments in the low-fluence PDT group and 2.4 treatments in the very low-fluence PDT group, the release said.

All three groups had significant improvements in visual acuity. At 6 months, visual acuity improved an average of 6.3 letters in the low-fluence PDT group, 14.1 letters in the very low-fluence PDT group and 10.8 letters in the bevacizumab monotherapy group, according to the release.

QLT announced the results at the Annual Macula Society Meeting.