Suprachoroidal drug delivery shows benefits for DME treatment

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Suprachoroidal drug delivery is a novel approach that targets posterior tissues, minimizes exposures to the anterior segment and has shown benefits as a diabetic macular edema treatment in early studies, a speaker said here.

“The medication is delivered to the sclera-choroid. It has the potential to reduce cataract formation and incidence of high IOP spikes, as it delivers the drug in great concentrations to the retina and less to the anterior chamber,” Mark R. Barakat, MD, said at the Retina World Congress.

Early studies have shown positive results for suprachoroidal drug delivery for the treatment of DME, he said.

In the TYBEE phase 2 double-masked study, 71 patients with DME were randomly assigned to receive Eylea (aflibercept, Regeneron) alone or suprachoroidal corticosteroid triamcinolone acetonide (CLS-TA, Clearside Biomedical) with intravitreal aflibercept. Both the aflibercept arm and combination arm showed an increase in visual acuity at final follow-up of 24 weeks, with a 13.5 letter gain in the aflibercept arm and a 12.3 letter gain in the combination arm.

“However, the combination arm saw an improvement of central retinal thickness at almost all time points,” Barakat said.

The combination arm underwent fewer treatments over the 24 weeks, with patients receiving 2.8 treatments compared with 4.7 in the aflibercept arm, Barakat noted. – by Robert Linnehan

Reference:

Barakat M. Suprachoroidal drug delivery for diabetic macular edema. Presented at: Retina World Congress; March 21 to 24, 2019; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Disclosure: Barakat reports he is a consultant for Allegro, Alimera Sciences, Genentech, Novartis and Regenxbio and a speaker for Ohr and Oxurion.