Pravin U. Dugel MD: Simultaneous Inhibition of Angiopoietin-2 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A with Faricimab in Diabetic Macular Edema
Presented in part at: 15th Annual Angiogenesis, Exudation, and Degeneration meeting, February 2018, Miami, Florida; 41st Annual Macula Society Meeting, February 2018, Beverly Hills, California; Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, April–May 2018, Honolulu, Hawaii; Royal College of Ophthalmologists Annual Congress 2018, May 2018, Liverpool, United Kingdom; 36th World Ophthalmology Congress, June 2018, Barcelona, Spain; American Society of Retina Specialists 36th Annual Meeting, July 2018, Vancouver, Canada; Retina Society Annual Meeting, September 2018, San Francisco, California; 18th EURETINA Congress, September 2018, Vienna, Austria; American Academy of Ophthalmology Retina Subspecialty Day, October 2018, Chicago, Illinois; and 12th Asia-Pacific Vitreo-Retina Society Congress, December 2018, Seoul, South Korea.
Purpose
The phase 2 BOULEVARD trial compared safety and efficacy of faricimab, a novel bispecific antibody targeting angiopoietin-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), with ranibizumab in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME).
Design
The BOULEVARD trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT02699450) was a prospective, randomized, active comparator-controlled, double-masked, multicenter, phase 2 study conducted at 59 sites in the United States.
Participants
The trial enrolled patients 18 years of age or older with center-involving DME, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 73 to 24 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letters, and central subfield thickness (CST) of 325 μm or more.
Methods
Anti-VEGF treatment-naïve patients were randomized 1:1:1 to intravitreal 6.0 mg faricimab, 1.5 mg faricimab, or 0.3 mg ranibizumab, and patients previously treated with anti-VEGF were randomized 1:1 to 6.0 mg faricimab or 0.3 mg ranibizumab. Patients were dosed monthly for 20 weeks, followed by an observation period up to week 36 to assess durability.
Main Outcome Measures
The prespecified primary outcome measure was mean change in BCVA from baseline at week 24 for faricimab versus ranibizumab in treatment-naïve patients. Key secondary and exploratory outcome measures included CST, Diabetic Retinopathy Severity Scale (DRSS) score, and durability as assessed by time to re-treatment.
Results
The trial enrolled 229 patients (168 treatment-naïve and 61 previously treated with anti-VEGF). In treatment-naïve patients, 6.0 mg faricimab, 1.5 mg faricimab, and 0.3 mg ranibizumab resulted in mean improvements of 13.9, 11.7, and 10.3 ETDRS letters from baseline, respectively. The 6.0-mg faricimab dose demonstrated a statistically significant gain of 3.6 letters over ranibizumab (P = 0.03). In both patient populations, faricimab resulted in dose-dependent reductions in CST, improvements in DRSS score, and longer time to re-treatment during the observation period compared with ranibizumab. Faricimab showed no new or unexpected safety signals.
Conclusions
The BOULEVARD trial met its primary end point; faricimab demonstrated statistically superior visual acuity gains versus ranibizumab at week 24 in treatment-naïve patients. Central subfield thickness reduction, DRSS score improvement, and extended durability outcomes support the primary outcome. These findings suggest the benefit of simultaneous inhibition of angiopoietin-2 and VEGF-A with faricimab for patients with DME.
