US researchers found an anti-IL-6 antibody optimised for intravitreal injection (RG6179, Roche) resulted in improved vision and retinal thickness and was well tolerated in uveitic macular oedema (UMO) and diabetic macular oedema (DMO) patients.
First author Dr Sumit Sharma of Cole Eye Institute, Ohio, presented preliminary results of the Dovetail phase 1 trial at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting. The ascending-dose study included 33 patients with a mean age of 62 years, with 36% of patients in the lowest dose (0.25mg) group achieving a ≥15-letter increase, compared to 27% of the 1mg group and 25% of the 2.5mg group. Concurrent reductions in the central retinal thickness accompanied the changes in vision, he said.
By week 12, 53% of patients had no intraretinal fluid and all were free of subretinal fluid, Dr Sharma reported. “Although steroids work great to control inflammation, their use is limited by (the adverse) effects of glaucoma and cataracts. A new therapeutic without these risks and that controls inflammation is needed.”
