CATT: More on Important AMD Trials

A third AMD trial is the Complications of AMD Treatments Trial or CATT. This trial is being chaired by Dan Martin of Emory. It’s due to start in late spring. The study will compare monthly injections using Avastin to monthly injections of Lucentis. It will also compare three monthly injections of Avastin followed by “as needed” injections to the same regimen using Lucentis. The trial should determine whether Avastin or Lucentis is better and whether the “as needed” injection regimen is as good as monthly injections.

“As needed” means that, after three injections of either Avastin or Lucentis, a patient will receive another injection only if there is fluid on the OCT, new vision loss, new hemorrhage or new growth of the neovascularization. The “as needed” regimen is used to reduce the total number of injections that must be given to control the neovascularization and its leakage. AMD patients are not all the same. Some may need monthly injections for a year or more but many will not.

We are also awaiting news whether there will be another trial on the VEGF trap which is manufactured by Regeneron. The VEGF trap has shown excellent visual results in two small studies. The advantage of the trap is that it may need to be injected into the eye only every three months.