AAO 2023: PHOTON study at 96-weeks

Diana Do, MD, spoke with the Ophthalmology Times team about her presentation of the results for the 96-week PHOTON study of aflibercept at this year's American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.

Video Transcript

Editor's note - This transcript has been edited for clarity.

David Hutton:

I'm David Hutton of Ophthalmology Times. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recently held its annual meeting in San Francisco. Dr. Diana Do was among the esteemed presenters at this year's event. Dr. Do, thank you so much for joining me. Tell us a little bit about your presentation at Academy.

Diana Do, MD:

It's a pleasure to join you. I had the privilege of presenting the 96-week results of the PHOTON study, which was the phase 3 randomized clinical trial evaluating aflibercept 8 mg compared to aflibercept 2 mg. The results of this study showed that aflibercept 8 mg whether dosed every 12 weeks or every 16 weeks for diabetic macular edema met its primary endpoint, and resulted in similar visual acuity outcomes at 1 year, compared to 2 mg aflibercept. In addition, when patients were followed and treated through 2 years, those gains and vision were sustained, and the benefit remained through 96 weeks. Furthermore, when we looked at durability of the agent, we saw that 88% of 8 mg given every 12 weeks, those patients were able to maintain their randomized dosing intervals, and 84% of those eyes on 8 mg randomized to every 16 weeks also maintain that dosing interval through 2 years. That shows that this new formulation of 8 mg aflibercept for diabetic macular edema has the potential of being dosed every 12, 16, or even 20 weeks in the study, which would be a big answer to the unmet need of durability with anti-VEGF agents.

David Hutton:

What's the next step for this research?

Diana Do, MD:

The results of this phase 3 clinical trials are evaluated by the FDA, and aflibercept 8 mg was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in diabetic macular edema, diabetic retinopathy, and neovascular AMD. Therefore, clinicians such as myself, are using it right now in our clinical practice for patients with this vision threatening diseases.