After one year of follow-up, researchers have determined that there is no difference in efficacy between Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) and Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. The results of this prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial were published in the October online version of Eye.

In this study, 15 patients received intravitreal injections of Avastin and seven patients received intravitreal injections of Lucentis. The injections were administered every month for the first three months. The patients received further injections on an as-needed basis for one year.  

At one-year follow-up, the researchers documented no significant difference in visual acuity and/or anatomic outcomes between patients from the two groups (patients in both groups exhibited an average visual improvement of 1.5 lines).

However, patients in the Avastin group received an average of eight injections over one year, while patients in the Lucentis group received an average of just four injections.

“With the exception that total injections given to subjects over one year were significantly different between the two treatment arms, visual and anatomic outcomes at one year failed to show a significant difference between both groups,” says lead author and principal investigator Manju Subramanian, M.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology at Boston University School of Medicine.

Subramanian ML, Abedi G, Ness S, et al. Bevacizumab vs ranibizumab for age-related macular degeneration: 1-year outcomes of a prospective, double-masked randomised clinical trial. Eye (Lond). 2010 Oct 1. [Epub ahead of print]