Real-world data on ranibizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization due to pathologic myopia: results from a post-marketing surveillance in Japan

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to obtain real-world clinical data on the safety and efficacy of ranibizumab treatment for myopic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) due to pathologic myopia. METHODS: This was a prospective, observational, post-marketing surveillance study in ranibizumab-naive Japanese patients with myopic CNV. Patients who initiated ranibizumab treatment were registered and prospectively observed over 12 months. Safety endpoints were the incidence of ocular and non-ocular adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and serious adverse events (SAEs). The efficacy endpoint included the average change in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution (logMAR) units (logMAR BCVA) from baseline to the last observation. RESULTS: Three hundred and eighteen patients were included in the safety analysis population. Of these 79.9% were female and the mean age was 65.5 years. The incidences of SAEs and ADRs were 0.6 and 0.3%, respectively. A total of 268 patients (84.0%) completed the 12-month study period. The mean (±SD) and median number of ranibizumab injections were 2.0 ± 1.5 and 1.0 during the 12-month study period, respectively. The number of ranibizumab injections received was one in 52.2% of patients and less than or equal to three in 89.2%. The mean change in logMAR BCVA from baseline to month 12 was −0.193, and the mean logMAR BCVA improved from 0.517 to 0.319 between baseline and month 12. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that ranibizumab is generally well tolerated, and that a minimum number of injections were necessary to produce a therapeutic effect in Japanese myopic CNV patients in a real-world setting.