RWC 2024: Beneficial effects on macular function with continuous pegcetacoplan treatment: OAKS, DERBY, and GALE open-label extension
At this year's Retina World Congress meeting, Jaclyn L. Kovach, MD, FASRS, Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology, Medical Retina Fellowship Director, at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, presented on the beneficial effects on macular function with continuous pegcetacoplan treatment: OAKS, DERBY, and GALE open-label extension.
Video Transcript:
Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Sydney M. Crago:
Hi, my name is Sydney Crago, and I'm the editor of Modern Retina. Today, I'm joined by Dr Kovach, who will be part of the dry age-related macular degeneration case presentations and panel discussion at Retina World Congress. Thank you so much for speaking with me today, Dr Kovach. Can you tell me a little bit about what you'll be speaking on at Retina World Congress?
Jaclyn L. Kovach, MD, FASRS:
Sure. So our post-hoc analysis looks at the beneficial effects on macular function of continuous pegcetacoplan treatment in the OAKS, DERBY, and GALE open-label extension studies. And so when we look at the combined results of OAKS and DERBY, we appreciate that with pegcetacoplan treatment, we see meaningful reductions in GA growth and both non-subfovial and subfovial GA with increasing efficacy over time and a more rapid and pronounced effect on non-subfovial lesions. But now, we have some new exciting data on anatomical benefits of pegcetacoplan treatment in our post-hoc analyses that show a positive effect on visual function best-corrected visual acuity and microperimetry. So more specifically, in these studies, pegcetacoplan was associated with slowed vision loss and a higher NEI VFQ 25 scoring patients with GA lesions greater than or equal to 250 microns away from the fovial center, and pegcetacoplan was found to delay progression to severe visual acuity impairment with up to 38% risk reduction over 2 years in the combined OAKS and DERBY population. We also use microperimetry as an important metric and in OAKS both pegcetacoplan regimens, significantly delayed occurrence of absolute scotomas versus sham in the central macular 14 and 16 microperimetry loci.
Sydney M. Crago:
Really interesting, and I can't wait to hear more details after your presentation. What are you most excited to hear from your fellow panelists when it comes to AMD?
Jaclyn L. Kovach, MD, FASRS:
I'm excited to hear how they're using pegcetacoplan, and if this new functional benefit data is going to influence their treatment.
Sydney M. Crago:
And then, where do you predict the treatment of AMD and GA will go in the coming years?
Jaclyn L. Kovach, MD, FASRS:
Well, it's a really exciting time for us because we have new drugs for an indication for which there was really no treatment, just vitamin supplementation. So I think as time goes on, we'll learn more how to best use these drugs, on which patients, how frequently, what types of lesions we should treat. And I think we'll get even better treatments as time goes on and, hopefully, be able to treat earlier in the disease process to make a bigger impact.
Sydney M. Crago:
What would you tell someone who's considering a path into a retina specialty?
Jaclyn L. Kovach, MD, FASRS:
Being a retina specialist has been an amazing journey for me, and it's such a privilege to take care of our patients and to be able to offer them new and better treatments as time goes on. So, you know, I would encourage any medical student to really look at the field of ophthalmology and retina in particular, because it's a really exciting field to be a part of.
