New opportunities for Italian patients with retinal vein occlusion

Retinal vein occlusion is the second most common cause of vision loss due to retinal vascular disease, affecting approximately 28 million people worldwide. In Italy, starting today, sufferers can benefit from a new treatment option, faricimab. The first and only bispecific antibody approved for ocular use has been shown to provide early and lasting improvement in visual acuity and promote significant reabsorption of the retinal fluid that causes secondary macular edema.

Preserving vision is crucial to the quality of life of those affected by macular degeneration. "Retinal vein occlusion, especially its central form, is a debilitating disease that predominantly affects people over 50 and is often accompanied by other cardiovascular conditions," explains Francesco Viola , Director of the Ophthalmology Unit at the Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan and Professor at the University of Milan. "With faricimab, we can maintain the benefits of treatment even with extended administration intervals. This means fewer hospital admissions and greater adherence to treatment, which is now more crucial than ever for preserving vision."

What is retinal vein occlusion?

RVO typically causes sudden, painless vision loss in the affected eye, as the vein obstruction restricts normal blood flow in the retina, causing ischemia, bleeding, fluid leakage, and swelling of the retina, known as macular edema. There are two main types of RVO: branch retinal vein occlusion, which affects over 23 million people globally and occurs when one of the four smaller "branches" of the main central retinal vein is blocked, and central retinal vein occlusion, which is less common—affecting over four million people worldwide—and occurs when the central retinal vein of the eye is blocked. Currently, macular edema due to RVO is generally treated with repeated intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapies.

How does faricimab work?

In RVO, the level of angiopoietin 2 (Ang-2) is elevated, and increased expression of Ang-2 is thought to drive disease progression, along with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Faricimab is being studied to target and inhibit two signaling pathways associated with various vision-threatening retinal diseases; it works by neutralizing both angiopoietin 2 (Ang-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) to restore vascular stability. The studies that led to the approval of faricimab demonstrated sustained benefits and the possibility of extending treatment intervals up to four months.