Early Latin American experience with faricimab for retinal diseases: FARI-LATAM study for the Pan-American collaborative retina study (PACORES) group

PURPOSE: To report the early visual outcomes of eyes with a variety of retinal conditions that were treated with intravitreal faricimab during routine clinical practice in Latin America.

METHODS: Retrospective multicenter case series of 757 eyes of 732 patients who underwent at least one intravitreal injection of faricimab and had a least 4 weeks of follow-up.

RESULTS: Our cohort consisted of 392 eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NV-AMD) (naive = 105; prior tx = 287); 225 with DME (naive = 74; prior tx = 151); 50 with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) (naive = 29; prior tx = 21); 20 with previously treated branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and 69 (naive = 25; prior tx = 44) with other conditions. After a mean follow-up of 26.6 weeks and 4 injections, eyes with treatment naive NV-AMD eyes gained 9.1 letters ( p  < 0.0001) with a last mean treatment interval of 9.5 weeks. Previously-treated NV-AMD eyes gained 6.6 to 9.5 letters ( p  = 0.00146 and p  < 0.0001) after a mean follow-up of 29 to 42 weeks and 3.8 to 4.3 injections with a last mean treatment interval of 9.2 to 12.1 weeks. In treatment naive diabetic macular edema (DME) eyes, after a mean follow-up of 24.8 weeks and 4.2 injections, there was a gain of 12 letters ( p  < 0.0001) with a last mean treatment interval of 9.2 weeks. In previously-treated DME eyes after a mean follow-up of 27.2 to 44.2 weeks and 3.8 to 3.9 to injections, there was a gain of 6.1 to 11.7 letters ( p  < 0.0001) with a last mean treatment interval of 9.6 to 15.2 weeks. Treatment-naive CRVO eyes gained 22.6 letters ( p  = 0.00369) after a mean follow-up of 26.2 weeks and 3.7 injections. Previously treated CRVO eyes gained 9.8 letters (0.5233) after a mean follow-up of 21.8 weeks and 3.4 injections. Previously-treated BRVO eyes gained 5.4 letters ( p  = 0.00862) after a mean follow-up of 28.1 weeks and 3.5 injections and a last treatment interval of 11.1 weeks. A total of 38 eyes discontinued treatment with faricimab and switched back to aflibercept. There were 3 cases of anterior uveitis that were treated with topical steroids. None of the eyes developed infectious endophthalmitis or occlusive retinal vasculitis.

CONCLUSIONS: The early Latin American experience with faricimab is promising. On average treated eyes had functional and anatomic gains from baseline.