Geographic atrophy (GA) sounds like it is related to geography - which it is - geography of the eye. GA is an irreversible and advanced form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is an eye disease that can blur central vision.1,2 Risk factors for AMD are older age, having family history of AMD, and smoking to name a few. AMD is a fairly common disease in the elderly, around 11 million people in the United States of America have it,2 with about 1 million of those progressing to GA.3 GA is also one of leading causes of blindness.
GA is the culmination of damage to the retina of the eye by factors such as aging, environmental stress, and inflammation via many pathways, namely the complement cascade. Ultimately, various factors including the complement cascade lead to growth of retinal lesions which results in retinal cell death, which is a hallmark of GA.4 That is where Apellis Pharmaceutical comes in with their newly approved drug, SYFOVRE™ (pegcetacoplan injection.) 5
Learn more about the complement cascade here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4dZ5w3D9ZM
SYFOVRE™ is the first and only drug approved to treat geographic atrophy, and it does so by providing control of the complement cascade mentioned earlier. SYFOVRE™ is administered through the intravitreal route, meaning this is injected into the intravitreal cavity of the eye; that can be off-putting for many patients. Overall, it is a fairly well-tolerated drug, but some common adverse events of SYFOVRE™ are ocular discomfort, neovascular AMD, vitreous floaters.5
The data about SYFOVRE™ were from Phase 3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trials called OAKS and DERBY. In these clinical trials, SYFOVRE™ reduced the rate of lesion growth, and demonstrated improvement in symptoms.5
Apellis Pharmaceuticals received United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for SYFOVRE™. This is a truly monumental drug that proved to be beneficial for over 12,000 patients enrolled in these trials, and it will be highly anticipated seeing what is to come with this.
References
1 https://apellis.com/focus-areas/ophthalmology/understanding-geographic-atrophy-ga/
2 https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/eye-conditions-and-diseases/age-related-macular-degeneration
3 The Eye Diseases Prevalence Research Group. Prevalence of age-related macular degeneration in the United States. Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122:564-572
4 Boyer, David S. MD*; Schmidt-Erfurth, Ursula MD†; van Lookeren Campagne, Menno PhD‡; Henry, Erin C. PhD‡; Brittain, Christopher MBBS§. THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF GEOGRAPHIC ATROPHY SECONDARY TO AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION AND THE COMPLEMENT PATHWAY AS A THERAPEUTIC TARGET. Retina 37(5):p 819-835, May 2017. | DOI: 10.1097/IAE.0000000000001392
5 https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/02/17/2610967/0/en/FDA-Approves-SYFOVRE-pegcetacoplan-injection-as-the-First-and-Only-Treatment-for-Geographic-Atrophy-GA-a-Leading-Cause-of-Blindness.html
