Faricimab FDA approval: Dr. Joshua Mali shares what this new therapy will mean to retina specialists

Joshua Mali, MD, is an ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon based in Sarasota, Florida. He also serves as retinal medical director of the Macular Degeneration Association (DMA), and is the founder and CEO of Mali Enterprises.

Video transcript

Welcome. My name is Dr. Joshua Mali. I'm a board-certified ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon in Sarasota, Florida. I'm also the founder and CEO of Mali Enterprises. And I serve as Retinal Medical Director of the Macular Degeneration Association [MDA]. I'm so excited to be here with you today to talk about what the faricimab approval will mean for retina specialists.

For retina specialists, this is a great time. I think this will be a revolutionary treatment for wet AMD patients. Faricimab has the ability to extend patients out to a possible 16-week dosing interval, while still maintaining robust visual gains that we see with our current anti-VEGF therapies. I think providing that combined mechanism of the Ang-2 and anti-VEGF properties really give a retina specialist an edge on treating wet AMD and getting patients the best possible outcome.

I think this will help patients that are treatment naive as well as patients that are on current therapies from 4- to 12-week interval that we've been unable to extend past those intervals. So give these patients a chance to get out to more extended intervals than there they are on current therapies.

And finally, of course, I think it will help refractory patients. I think patients that are on maximal medical therapy of our current agents will certainly benefit from faricimab approval as another treatment, another tool in our tool belt, to help treat patients with wet AMD and provide them with the best possible outcome and the best possible care that we can.

So I know that all the retina specialists in the country are super excited about this new treatment and new potential approval. I'm honored to be a part of that and help our patients achieve the best possible visual outcome. And faricimab will make that happen. Thank you very much.