Results of EVEREST II trial presented at EURETINA

    Lim Tock Han For patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), the combination of an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agent plus verteporfin photodynamic therapy (vPDT) led to better visual acuity at 24 months and greater polyp regression compared with ranibizumab alone, according to Professor Lim Tock Han. “This is the first time that the two-year results from the EVEREST II randomised trial in Asian patients have been presented in Europe, confirming the superiority of combination therapy with ranibizumab and vPDT compared to anti-VEGF monotherapy in improving visual acuity and achieving polyp regression,” Prof Lim told delegates attending the 8th EURETINA Winter Meeting in Budapest. The EVEREST II study compared the efficacy and safety of combination ranibizumab 0.5mg and verteporfin photodynamic therapy to monotherapy (ranibizumab 0.5 mg) in 322 symptomatic macular PCV patients from 42 sites across seven Asian countries. Prof Lim said that the visual acuity gained was 9.6 letters in the combined group as compared to 5.5 letters in the ranibizumab monotherapy group, which was a highly statistically significant finding. Furthermore, the percentage of complete polyp progression at two years was more than double in combination therapy (56.6%) as compared to monotherapy (26.7%). “These outcomes were achieved with a reduced mean number of ranibizumab injections in the combination arm compared with the monotherapy arm. Over 24 months, there were no new safety signals in comparison to the well-established safety profiles of ranibizumab and vPDT,” he concluded.

Tags: EURETINA, Budapest 2018