NICE issues recommendation for Beovu for wet AMD
The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has issued a final appraisal determination recommending Novartis’ brolucizumab treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration.
The novel Beovu “could help minimize treatment burden, with more than 50% of patients maintained on 12-weekly dosing intervals immediately after the loading phase to week 48,” the company said in a press release.
The recommendation was based on the results of the phase 3 HAWK and HARRIER trials, in which brolucizumab showed noninferior improvement in best corrected visual acuity when compared with aflibercept at week 48, with a mean visual gain of 15 or more letters in approximately 30% of patients. Brolucizumab also showed superior drying efficacy for both intraretinal and subretinal fluid as compared with aflibercept, with consequent greater reductions in central subfield thickness. In both studies, more than 50% of the patients were maintained on 12-week dosing intervals after the loading phase.
The positive NICE recommendation represents an important advancement for people in the U.K. living with wet AMD, and even more so in the face of the pandemic, according to Faruque Ghanchi, MBBS, FRCOphth, consultant ophthalmologist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
“Without treatment, wet AMD can progress rapidly causing significant vision loss, which can make everyday activities such as reading and recognizing faces more difficult. We welcome the arrival of another treatment option, brolucizumab, which has shown the potential to maintain vision and help minimize the number of hospital visits for people living with this devastating condition,” he told Healio/OSN. “Reducing treatment burden is always a welcome development but is ever more important during these unprecedented times.”
If no appeals are presented by consultees and commentators within 3 weeks, NICE will publish guidelines on the use of Beovu in the NHS, which is expected at the beginning of 2021.
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