Real-world treatment patterns and visual outcomes of faricimab in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration in the UK at 12 months: the FARWIDE-nAMD study

BACKGROUND: The Faricimab Real-World Evidence (FARWIDE) studies are evaluating real-world outcomes of eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) or diabetic macular oedema (DMO) treated with faricimab in the UK. Here, we present results from FARWIDE-nAMD for eyes with 12 months of follow-up after faricimab initiation. METHODS: nAMD patient-eyes that received ≥1 faricimab injection after May 2022 at one of 35 participating UK National Health Service retinal clinics with ≥12 months of follow-up after faricimab initiation as of July 2024 were included. Treatment-naïve (TN) eyes had no prior anti-VEGF treatment. Previously treated (PT) eyes switched from an anti-VEGF to faricimab. Baseline characteristics, VA, and injection frequency were assessed. Intraocular inflammation (IOI) and presumed infectious endophthalmitis (PIE) rates were pooled for nAMD and DMO eyes with any follow-up duration on faricimab. Analyses are descriptive. RESULTS: 5854 nAMD patients (6991 eyes; 26.5% TN, 73.5% PT) were included. 83.3% of PT eyes switched from aflibercept 2.0 mg. TN eyes received a mean (SD) of 4.7 (0.7) faricimab injections in months 1-6 and 2.2 (1.1) injections in months 7-12. PT eyes received 4.5 (1.0) injections in months 1-6 and 3.0 (1.2) in months 7-12. In TN eyes, mean (SD) VA increased from 56.4 (16.3) Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letters at baseline to 60.1 (19.4) at 12 months (mean [SD] change 3.6 [14.7] letters). PT eyes had stable VA. IOI and PIE rates were consistent with faricimab phase 3 trials. CONCLUSIONS: These 1-year data support real-world faricimab effectiveness, durability, and safety in nAMD.