Early Latin American experience with faricimab for retinal diseases: FARI-LATAM study for the Pan-American collaborative retina study (PACORES) group

TL;DR

A study in Latin America found that faricimab treatment for various retinal diseases led to improved vision and eye health in most patients.

Contribution

This paper provides real-world clinical data on faricimab's effectiveness across multiple retinal diseases in Latin America.

Findings

Treatment naive NV-AMD eyes gained 9.1 letters in vision after 26.6 weeks.

DME eyes showed a 12-letter gain after treatment with faricimab.

CRVO eyes gained 22.6 letters with faricimab treatment.

Abstract

To report the early visual outcomes of eyes with a variety of retinal conditions that were treated with intravitreal faricimab during routine clinical practice in Latin America.

Retrospective multicenter case series of 757 eyes of 732 patients who underwent at least one intravitreal injection of faricimab and had a least 4 weeks of follow-up.

Our cohort consisted of 392 eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NV-AMD) (naive = 105; prior tx = 287); 225 with DME (naive = 74; prior tx = 151); 50 with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) (naive = 29; prior tx = 21); 20 with previously treated branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and 69 (naive = 25; prior tx = 44) with other conditions. After a mean follow-up of 26.6 weeks and 4 injections, eyes with treatment naive NV-AMD eyes gained 9.1 letters (p < 0.0001) with a last mean treatment interval of 9.5 weeks. Previously-treated NV-AMD eyes gained 6.6 to 9.5 letters (p = 0.00146 and p < 0.0001) after a mean follow-up of 29 to 42 weeks and 3.8 to 4.3 injections with a last mean treatment interval of 9.2 to 12.1 weeks. In treatment naive diabetic macular edema (DME) eyes, after a mean follow-up of 24.8 weeks and 4.2 injections, there was a gain of 12 letters (p < 0.0001) with a last mean treatment interval of 9.2 weeks. In previously-treated DME eyes after a mean follow-up of 27.2 to 44.2 weeks and 3.8 to 3.9 to injections, there was a gain of 6.1 to 11.7 letters (p < 0.0001) with a last mean treatment interval of 9.6 to 15.2 weeks. Treatment-naive CRVO eyes gained 22.6 letters (p = 0.00369) after a mean follow-up of 26.2 weeks and 3.7 injections. Previously treated CRVO eyes gained 9.8 letters (0.5233) after a mean follow-up of 21.8 weeks and 3.4 injections. Previously-treated BRVO eyes gained 5.4 letters (p = 0.00862) after a mean follow-up of 28.1 weeks and 3.5 injections and a last treatment interval of 11.1 weeks. A total of 38 eyes discontinued treatment with faricimab and switched back to aflibercept. There were 3 cases of anterior uveitis that were treated with topical steroids. None of the eyes developed infectious endophthalmitis or occlusive retinal vasculitis.

The early Latin American experience with faricimab is promising. On average treated eyes had functional and anatomic gains from baseline.