Safety and Efficacy of Ranibizumab in Japanese Patients With Subfoveal Choroidal Neovascularization Secondary to Age-related Macular Degeneration

Open-label Multicenter, Phase I/II Study Assessing the Safety and Efficacy of Ranibizumab (RFB002) in Japanese Patients With Subfoveal Choroidal Neovascularization (CNV) Secondary to Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

Open-label Multicenter, Phase I/II Study comprising three phases (single dose, multiple dose and extension phase), Assessing the Safety and Efficacy of Ranibizumab (RFB002) in Japanese Patients With Subfoveal Choroidal Neovascularization (CNV) Secondary to Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

The safety and tolerability of single intravitreal injections of ranibizumab was evaluated in patients enrolled in the single dose phase (Group A). Patients who successfully completed the single dose phase (i.e. did not experience a grade-3 targeted adverse event) could enter the multiple dose phase and receive ranibizumab injections for an additional 11 months. Simultaneously, the multiple dose phase was initiated in two parallel dose groups of additional patients (Group B), who received ranibizumab injections for 12 months. After patients in Group A and Group B had completed the multiple dose phase, all patients who provided written consent and were considered eligible based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the extension phase had the opportunity to continue on study treatment with the individualized flexible treatment regimen guided by monthly acuity scores and other ophthalmic examinations until approval of ranibizumab in Japan.

Inclusion Criteria

1. Male or female patients 50 years of age or greater
2. Patients with primary or recurrent subfoveal CNV secondary to AMD
3. Patients who have a BCVA score between 73 and 24 letters in the study eye using ETDRS-like grading charts (approximately 20/40 to 20/320)

Exclusion Criteria

1. No prior treatment in the study eye with verteporfin, external-beam radiation therapy, subfoveal focal laser photocoagulation, vitrectomy, or transpupillary thermotherapy

Extension Phase

Inclusion criteria:

1. Personally provided written informed consent to participate in the extension phase.
2. Patients with subfoveal CNV secondary to AMD who had completed the multiple dose phase in either of the ranibizumab groups (Group A or B).
3. Patients could participate in the extension phase even if they failed to do so on the day of the exit visit in the multiple dose phase (Group A and B), regardless of the time elapsed until the participation in the extension phase.

Exclusion criteria:

1. Received anti-angiogenic drugs (bevacizumab, pegaptanib, ranibizumab, anecortave acetate, corticosteroids or protein kinase C inhibitors, etc.) or
2. Participated in any clinical study of an investigational drug other than this one during the period between the exit visit of the multiple dose phase and the start in the extension phase, if they failed to be enrolled into the extension on the day of the exit visit. Patients were to be excluded even when the fellow eye was treated with any of these drugs.