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Zeaxanthin plus triple combination therapy for wet AMD improves vision
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Oral zeaxanthin supplementation of triple combination therapy was found to be comparatively effective and cost-effective to triple therapy alone for neovascular age-related macular degeneration, according to a recent study.
The 24-month clinical trial results also suggested that the addition of oral zeaxanthin further improves vision and reduces the incidence of subsequent NVAMD in fellow eyes as well as the number of treatment cycles needed, according to a press release from the Center for Value-Based Medicine.
A total of 144 participants with NVAMD52 years to 94 years old participated. They received either triple therapy (intravitreal bevacizumab, reduced-fluence photodynamic therapy and intravitreal dexamethasone) or triple therapy with 20 mg daily of oral zeaxanthin (EyePromise Zeaxanthin, ZeaVision) supplementation.
Participants were examined at baseline and at 4 to 6 weeks. If stable, follow-up occurred every 6 to 8 weeks in year 1 and 8 to 12 weeks in year 2.
Retreatment was based on residual/recurrent subretinal blood, subretinal pigment epithelium/subretinal/intraretinal fluid, decreased vision, intravenous fluorescein angiography leakage, or an ICG angiographic occult plaque, according to the study. Triple therapy was repeated when retreatment was given.
In TTZ (triple therapy plus zeaxanthin) cohort eyes, 27% gained at least 15 letters at 24 months vs. 9% in the TT (triple therapy alone) cohort. At 24 months, loss of at least 15 letters was observed in 10% of TTZ cohort eyes and 10% of TT cohort eyes. Stable or improved vision at 24 months was noted in 76% of TTZ cohort eyes and 77% of TT cohort eyes.
“This clinical trial confirms that triple therapy supplementation with oral zeaxanthin yields a visual result superior to triple therapy alone,” according to Joseph Olk, MD, principal investigator and partner at The Retina Center of St. Louis, in the press release.
Researchers also noted a reduction in the number of treatment cycles required when adding zeaxanthin.
In addition, they saw a reduction in the percentage of fellow eyes with atrophic AMD progressing to neovascular AMD over the 24 months of the trial.
Supplementation with oral zeaxanthin reduced the development of fellow eye NVAMD by 74%, Olk said in the release.
The researchers concluded that zeaxanthin supplementation was cost effective, at $30/quality-adjusted life-year. – by Abigail Sutton
Disclosure: The study was supported in part by unrestricted grants from ZeaVision Inc. to The Retina Center of St. Louis County and the Center for Value-Based Medicine. The sponsor played no role in performing the trial, analyzing the results or altering the manuscript.
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