ARVO 2023: Apellis presents research on visual function, imaging, and AI

Caroline Baumal, MD, spoke with our onsite team at the 2023 ARVO annual meeting to share more about Apellis' presentations focusing on visual function, imaging and artificial intelligence.

Video transcript

Editor’s note: Transcript lightly edited for clarity.

Caroline Baumal, MD:

I'm Caroline Baumal. I'm the chief medical officer at Apellis in Waltham, Massachusetts, and I'm a vitreoretinal surgeon at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

At ARVO 2023, we have eight presentations and three of these are podium presentations. Our focus is really on visual function, as well as imaging and artificial intelligence. With regards to visual function, Dr. Allen Chiang from Wills Eye Hospital, will be presenting some new robust data. This centers on patients who had Heidelberg OCT imaging, and a visual function benefit was demonstrated in DERBY and OAKS eyes treated with pegcetacoplan at 24 months compared to sham-treated eyes.

In this benefit, the pegcetacoplan-treated eyes that were extrafoveal, and that was defined as 250 microns or greater, had a benefit of 5.6 letters at 24 months compared to sham. There was also a benefit in visual quality of life measures. This was 4.1 in pegcetacoplan-treated patients compared to sham. A quality of life measure of 4 is considered meaningful.

With regards to artificial intelligence, new data was presented that demonstrated that pegcetacoplan preserved RPE and photoreceptor in pegcetacoplan-treated eyes compared to sham. This continues to show this beneficial effect that was also noted in the Philly studies. Based on this, this adds to our story of the benefits of reducing growth of GA lesions.

The visual function benefits seen in eyes with lesions of GA 250 microns or greater from the center of the fovea. Imaging and artificial intelligence data support this as well. There's micro perimetry data as Well supporting the benefits of pegcetacoplan in reducing visual effects over time.