ArticleOphthalmology and therapy2023
The Treatment Patterns with Brolucizumab in Germany (REALIZE) Study: A Retrospective Cohort Study Based on Longitudinal Prescription Data.
Article in Ophthalmology and therapy, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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7 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- VEGF-inhibitor switch trial in poor-responsive neovascular age-related macular degeneration: assessing brolucizumab vs. faricimab: VISTA study.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2026Article
- Tracking real-world persistence and adherence to anti-VEGF intravitreal therapy with prefilled syringes: a German prescription sales analysis.BMJ open ophthalmology · 2025Article
- Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapies in ophthalmology.Medical hypothesis, discovery & innovation ophthalmology journal · 2025Review
- Comparative efficacy of brolucizumab, half-dose photodynamic therapy, and aflibercept in managing chronic central serous chorioretinopathy.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2024Article
- One-year outcome of brolucizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration in Japanese patients.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Switching to brolucizumab: injection intervals and visual, anatomical and safety outcomes at 12 and 18 months in real-world eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.International journal of retina and vitreous · 2023Article
- One-Year and 18-Month Outcomes in nAMD Patient Eyes Switched to Brolucizumab Alone versus to Brolucizumab Alternating with Other Anti-VEGF Agents.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Article
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5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThis study describes real-world treatment patterns in Germany for brolucizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).
methodsThis single-arm retrospective cohort study used German patient-level prescription data. Patients aged ≥ 50 years, who received ≥ 1 brolucizumab prescription in one eye only (unilateral) and had a minimum of 12 months follow-up were included. Three cohorts were defined from the overall population: anti-VEGF treatment-naive patients ("treatment-naive"); anti-VEGF treatment-experienced patients ("treatment-experienced"); and of the treatment-experienced cohort, patients persistent on brolucizumab for 12 months ("treatment-experienced persistent"), i.e. who received ≥ 2 brolucizumab injections and did not discontinue or use other anti-VEGF agents in that period. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse patient characteristics and injection intervals.
resultsA total of 2089 patients with at least 12 months follow-up and one brolucizumab injection were analysed. Most were female (58.1%), aged 80+ years (54.7%). A total of 539 (25.8%) were treatment-naive, 1550 (74.2%) treatment-experienced and, of those, 787 (50.8%) were persistent. Overall, the median (interquartile range, IQR) number of brolucizumab injections during the 12 months follow-up was 5.0 (3.0-8.0). In the treatment-naive and treatment-experienced sub-cohorts it was 5.0 (3.0-8.0) and 5.0 (3.0-9.0) injections, respectively. In the treatment-experienced persistent cohort the median (IQR) number of injections was 8.0 (5.0-10.0). In this same cohort, the median (IQR) treatment interval between anti-VEGF injections before switch to brolucizumab was 5.1 (4.0-8.0) weeks, whilst the brolucizumab interval at 12 months after switch was 8.0 (6.0-11.9) weeks. Of treatment-experienced patients, 67% extended their treatment interval and those with pre-switch intervals less than 6 weeks (< q6w), in particular, had meaningful treatment interval extensions.
conclusionPatients who switched to brolucizumab had a median treatment interval extension of about 3 weeks at 12 months. These results show that treatment with brolucizumab has the potential to reduce treatment burden in patients with nAMD in routine clinical practice.
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