Efficacy and durability of Faricimab in naïve eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration

Introduction: To evaluate functional and anatomical changes in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) treated with a loading dose of faricimab intravitreal injections (IVI). Methods: 18 eyes of 18 patients with active macular neovascularization (MNV) and nAMD were enrolled at the Ophthalmology Clinic of University G. D’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara, Italy. All patients were scheduled for faricimab IVI as per lable. Enrolled patients underwent complete ophthalmic evaluation, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography. All measurements were evaluated at baseline (T0) , and then monthly up to week 20 (T4). Main outcome measures were changes in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), pigment epithelial detachments (PEDs) presence and maximum height (PED-MH), intra-retinal fluid (IRF) presence, subfoveal sub-retinal fluid (SSRF) presence and thickness (SSRFT). Results: BCVA improved and CMT reduced significantly during follow-up (p<0.001). In addition, SFCT decreased significantly (p=0.031). Between T0 and T4, SSRF presence reduced from 55.6% to 16.7% (p=0.045); IRF presence changed from 50% to 22.2% respectively (p=0.074). PED-MH was reduced in 58.8% of patients at T4. At week 20 72.3% of patients were in the q12/q16 interval. Conclusion: Faricimab showed efficacy in the treatment of naïve nAMD patients with an improvement of anatomical and functional parameters and a treatment interval after the loading phase equal or greater than 12 weeks in the majority of patients.