Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degeneration
What is this summary about? • This is a summary of a publication about the PULSAR study, which was published in The Lancet scientific journal. • Wet age-related macular degeneration (or AMD) is a long-term eye disease in which abnormal blood vessels grow in the back of the eye. As these vessels leak...
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| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Therapeutic Advances in Ophthalmology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/25158414251356388 |
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| author | Paolo Lanzetta Jean-François Korobelnik Jeffrey S. Heier Sergio Leal Frank G. Holz William Lloyd Clark David Eichenbaum Tomohiro Iida Xiaodong Sun Alyson J. Berliner Andrea Schulze Thomas Schmelter Ursula Schmidt-Ott Xin Zhang Robert Vitti Karen W. Chu Kimberly Reed Rohini Rao Rafia Bhore Yenchieh Cheng Tien Y. Wong |
| author_facet | Paolo Lanzetta Jean-François Korobelnik Jeffrey S. Heier Sergio Leal Frank G. Holz William Lloyd Clark David Eichenbaum Tomohiro Iida Xiaodong Sun Alyson J. Berliner Andrea Schulze Thomas Schmelter Ursula Schmidt-Ott Xin Zhang Robert Vitti Karen W. Chu Kimberly Reed Rohini Rao Rafia Bhore Yenchieh Cheng Tien Y. Wong |
| author_sort | Paolo Lanzetta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | What is this summary about? • This is a summary of a publication about the PULSAR study, which was published in The Lancet scientific journal. • Wet age-related macular degeneration (or AMD) is a long-term eye disease in which abnormal blood vessels grow in the back of the eye. As these vessels leak fluid or blood, the word “wet” is part of the disease name. This affects the central part of a person’s vision, which can make it hard for people to read, drive, or perform other daily activities. It is one of the main causes of visual loss in older people, and if it is left untreated, it can lead to rapid loss of vision. • People with wet AMD can be treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (or anti- VEGF ) medicine, given as an injection into the back of the eye. This type of medicine can improve vision by directly reducing the leakage into the macula and by stopping the growth of new, abnormal blood vessels. This leads to reduced swelling of the macula , which is measured by central retinal thickness. These therapies need frequent eye injections. One of the biggest difficulties for many people and their caregivers is that they need to keep up with visits for their injections that are often required to maintain good vision. • Aflibercept is an anti- VEGF medicine that health authorities across different countries have approved for the treatment of wet AMD, as well as other eye diseases, which we will not discuss in this material. People with wet AMD can receive injections of aflibercept 2 mg, given initially once per month for three months. After that, people usually receive treatment every 8 weeks, or sometimes less frequently, depending on their doctors’ assessments of the disease state. • The PULSAR study was carried out to see if a higher, 8 mg, dose of aflibercept would provide the same treatment results as aflibercept 2 mg, but with the need for fewer injections. If fewer injections are necessary, this can potentially help patients and their caregivers keep up with treatment. • The PULSAR study involved a direct comparison of the two doses of this anti-VEGF medicine in patients with wet AMD who were placed into one of three treatment groups with different dosing intervals at random. What were the results? • Through the first year (or 48 weeks), participants who received injections of aflibercept 8 mg every 12 or 16 weeks after an injection once per month for three months, had improvements in vision that were similar to those of participants treated with aflibercept 2 mg every 8 weeks. • After the injection once per month for three months, at Week 16, there were fewer participants treated with the 8 mg dose who had abnormal fluid leakage in the macula compared to the 2 mg dose. • At Week 48, participants who received aflibercept 8 mg had similar decreases in the thickness of the retina in the central region as those treated with aflibercept 2 mg. • Most participants who received aflibercept 8 mg and completed 48 weeks of the study maintained their 12- or 16-week injection schedules, without needing to shorten the interval between injections. • Adverse events in participants treated with aflibercept 8 mg were also similar to those in participants treated with aflibercept 2 mg. What do the results mean? • Findings show that aflibercept 8 mg can improve vision to the same extent as aflibercept 2 mg in people with wet AMD, but with fewer injections than aflibercept 2 mg so that people can potentially keep up with their treatments more easily. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e0b1fd6bbeeb444b839e0afb7e65b1fd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2515-8414 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Therapeutic Advances in Ophthalmology |
| spelling | doaj-art-e0b1fd6bbeeb444b839e0afb7e65b1fd2025-08-20T03:43:51ZengSAGE PublishingTherapeutic Advances in Ophthalmology2515-84142025-08-011710.1177/25158414251356388Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degenerationPaolo Lanzetta0Jean-François Korobelnik1Jeffrey S. Heier2Sergio Leal3Frank G. Holz4William Lloyd Clark5David Eichenbaum6Tomohiro Iida7Xiaodong Sun8Alyson J. Berliner9Andrea Schulze10Thomas Schmelter11Ursula Schmidt-Ott12Xin Zhang13Robert Vitti14Karen W. Chu15Kimberly Reed16Rohini Rao17Rafia Bhore18Yenchieh Cheng19Tien Y. Wong20Department of Medicine—Ophthalmology, University of Udine, and Istituto Europeo di Microchirurgia Oculare—IEMO, Udine-Milan, ItalyUniversity of Bordeaux, INSERM, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, UMR1219, Bordeaux, FranceOphthalmic Consultants of Boston, Boston, MA, USABayer Consumer Care AG, Basel, SwitzerlandDepartment of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, Bonn, GermanyPalmetto Retina Center, West Columbia, SC, USARetina Vitreous Associates of Florida, Tampa, FL, USATokyo Women’s Medical University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, JapanShanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, ChinaRegeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USABayer AG, Berlin, GermanyBayer AG, Berlin, GermanyBayer AG, Berlin, GermanyBayer Consumer Care AG, Basel, SwitzerlandRegeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USARegeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USARegeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USARegeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USARegeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USARegeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USASingapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore, and Tsinghua Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, ChinaWhat is this summary about? • This is a summary of a publication about the PULSAR study, which was published in The Lancet scientific journal. • Wet age-related macular degeneration (or AMD) is a long-term eye disease in which abnormal blood vessels grow in the back of the eye. As these vessels leak fluid or blood, the word “wet” is part of the disease name. This affects the central part of a person’s vision, which can make it hard for people to read, drive, or perform other daily activities. It is one of the main causes of visual loss in older people, and if it is left untreated, it can lead to rapid loss of vision. • People with wet AMD can be treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (or anti- VEGF ) medicine, given as an injection into the back of the eye. This type of medicine can improve vision by directly reducing the leakage into the macula and by stopping the growth of new, abnormal blood vessels. This leads to reduced swelling of the macula , which is measured by central retinal thickness. These therapies need frequent eye injections. One of the biggest difficulties for many people and their caregivers is that they need to keep up with visits for their injections that are often required to maintain good vision. • Aflibercept is an anti- VEGF medicine that health authorities across different countries have approved for the treatment of wet AMD, as well as other eye diseases, which we will not discuss in this material. People with wet AMD can receive injections of aflibercept 2 mg, given initially once per month for three months. After that, people usually receive treatment every 8 weeks, or sometimes less frequently, depending on their doctors’ assessments of the disease state. • The PULSAR study was carried out to see if a higher, 8 mg, dose of aflibercept would provide the same treatment results as aflibercept 2 mg, but with the need for fewer injections. If fewer injections are necessary, this can potentially help patients and their caregivers keep up with treatment. • The PULSAR study involved a direct comparison of the two doses of this anti-VEGF medicine in patients with wet AMD who were placed into one of three treatment groups with different dosing intervals at random. What were the results? • Through the first year (or 48 weeks), participants who received injections of aflibercept 8 mg every 12 or 16 weeks after an injection once per month for three months, had improvements in vision that were similar to those of participants treated with aflibercept 2 mg every 8 weeks. • After the injection once per month for three months, at Week 16, there were fewer participants treated with the 8 mg dose who had abnormal fluid leakage in the macula compared to the 2 mg dose. • At Week 48, participants who received aflibercept 8 mg had similar decreases in the thickness of the retina in the central region as those treated with aflibercept 2 mg. • Most participants who received aflibercept 8 mg and completed 48 weeks of the study maintained their 12- or 16-week injection schedules, without needing to shorten the interval between injections. • Adverse events in participants treated with aflibercept 8 mg were also similar to those in participants treated with aflibercept 2 mg. What do the results mean? • Findings show that aflibercept 8 mg can improve vision to the same extent as aflibercept 2 mg in people with wet AMD, but with fewer injections than aflibercept 2 mg so that people can potentially keep up with their treatments more easily.https://doi.org/10.1177/25158414251356388 |
| spellingShingle | Paolo Lanzetta Jean-François Korobelnik Jeffrey S. Heier Sergio Leal Frank G. Holz William Lloyd Clark David Eichenbaum Tomohiro Iida Xiaodong Sun Alyson J. Berliner Andrea Schulze Thomas Schmelter Ursula Schmidt-Ott Xin Zhang Robert Vitti Karen W. Chu Kimberly Reed Rohini Rao Rafia Bhore Yenchieh Cheng Tien Y. Wong Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degeneration Therapeutic Advances in Ophthalmology |
| title | Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degeneration |
| title_full | Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degeneration |
| title_fullStr | Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degeneration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degeneration |
| title_short | Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degeneration |
| title_sort | plain language summary of publication of the 48 week results from the pulsar study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age related macular degeneration |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/25158414251356388 |
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