Oral pazopanib improves sight in macular degeneration cases

(HealthDay)—Oral pazopanib is well tolerated and improves mean best-corrected visual acuity, central retinal lesion thickness, and central retinal thickness at day 29 in a small, per-protocol, non-rescued population of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a study published online Oct. 10 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Megan M. McLaughlin, from GlaxoSmithKline in King of Prussia, Pa., and colleagues conducted a 14-day, placebo-controlled, dose-rising study in 72 healthy participants (oral pazopanib tablets, 5 to 30 mg daily) and a 28-day phase 2a open-label study in 15 patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization secondary to AMD (15 mg daily).

The researchers found that oral pazopanib was well tolerated by all. Rescue therapy before day 29 was received by six of the 15 patients, all of whom had the CFH Y402H CC "high-risk" genotype for AMD. The other nine patients completed the study without rescue with improvements from baseline in best-corrected visual acuity, central retinal lesion thickness, and central retinal thickness. The association between the CFH Y402H T allele ("low risk" for AMD) trended toward improvement.

"It is postulated that CFH Y402H genotype may help predict which patients respond to pazopanib," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures pazopanib and funded the study.

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