Early Treatment Of Macular Degeneration With Macugen May Help Patients Preserve Their Vision

The researchers performed an exploratory analysis of theoutcomes of patients with early exudative lesions at week 54 inclinical trials of pegaptanib sodium in the landmark VISION (VEGFInhibition Study in Ocular Neovascularization) study. The patients weredivided into two groups. The researchers found that at week 54, 76percent of patients in group 1 receiving pegaptanib lost fewer than 15letters or three lines of vision on the ETDRS eye chart, compared with50 percent of patients undergoing usual care. In group 2, thatproportion was 80 percent and 57 percent, respectively. A number ofpatients treated with pegaptanib even regained some sight. In addition,patients who underwent usual care for AMD were 10 times more likely toexperience severe vision loss than those treated with pegaptanib.

The study found that early detection and treatment ofage-related macular degeneration with pegaptanib sodium may enable AMDpatients to maintain and, in some cases, regain vision. As a result,the Jules Stein Eye Institute is launching a prospective, open-label,multi-center trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pegaptanib in40 patients with early onset of AMD.

The lead author is Dr. Christine R. Gonzales, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA.

The research appears in the October 2005 issue of RETINA.

FUNDERS: Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Pfizer Inc.