UVEITIS

A study led by scientists at Stanford University presented at ARVO 2024evaluated ChatGPT 4.0 as an online education resource for patients with uveitis.Standard ChatGPT responses were compared against information from topwebsites including the National Health Service, Cleveland Clinic, and Healthline,and specialists deemed the AI-generated responses to be comprehensive andaccurate, with additional flexibility to tailor information to the education level ofeach patient.

GEOGRAPHIC ATROPHY

Technological innovation in healthcare was a major topic atARVO 2024, highlighted by the presentation of a deeplearning model for geographic atrophy segmentationadaptable to swept-source optical coherence tomography(SS-OCT) and spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) data. Throughanalysis of OCT images, the model achieved high sensitivity(99%) and specificity (93%), with a differential scanningcalorimetry of 0.92 compared to ground truth data,demonstrating promise as a tool to segment, monitor anddetect GA.

GEOGRAPHIC ATROPHY

Apellis presented the 36-month results of the GALEstudy on SYFOVRE for geographic atrophy, a followon to the DERBY and OAKS clinical trials. The resultsdemonstrated a 42% reduction in non-subfoveallesions with monthly treatments at 3 years. The study also demonstrated a 38% risk reductionfor progression of visual impairment through monthlytreatments, a significant reduction compared to the2-year data previously released.

AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION

The post-hoc analysis of a Phase 3 trial on SB15, anaflibercept biosimilar, regarding the efficacy and safetyof switching in neovascular age-related maculardegeneration patients was presented at ARVO 2024.The study showed that switching to the biosimilarmaintained visual and anatomic outcomes relative to thebrand name (LUCENTIS), supporting its clinical use inproviding more affordable anti-VEGF therapy forpatients.

DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA

The results of Regeneron's Phase 2 BOULEVARDstudy for EYLEA were presented at ARVO 2024, whichused a new deep-learning based retina segmentationtool to show that patients with diabetic macularedema (DME) experienced improved outcomes withgreater reductions in intraretinal fluid (IRF) volumes,linked to improved vision at one year. Specificstatistical comparisons between IRF volumereductions (<20%, 20-50%, >50%) showed that agreater reduction in fluid after treatment led to agreater reduction in total retinal thickness, innerretinal thickness and ultimately better vision.

DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA

Separate from ARVO, Merck has acquired EyeBio to expandits pipeline with a novel late-phase candidate and preclinicaloptions for retinal diseases. The acquisition involves a $1.3billion upfront payment and up to $1.7 billion in milestonepayments, reflecting a potential total value of $3 billion.EyeBio's Restoret is set to enter a pivotal study for diabeticmacular edema in the latter half of 2024, following up on thepositive results from the AMARONE Phase II clinical trialreleased in February, which demonstrated a meanimprovement in best-corrected visual acuity and a meanreduction in retinal thickness.