In patients with renal impairment, following administration of 3 mg pegaptanib doses every 6 weeks, the last detectable pegaptanib concentrations in plasma after the fourth dose were highly variable (ranging from 8 ng/mL to 66 ng/mL) and the variability was more pronounced in patients with severe renal impairment.

Macugen has not been studied in patients requiring hemodialysis.

Macugen has not been studied in patients with hepatic impairment.

Macugen was studied in two controlled, double-masked, and identically designed randomized studies in patients with neovascular AMD. Patients were randomized to receive control (sham treatment) or 0.3 mg, 1 mg or 3 mg Macugen administered as intravitreous injections every 6 weeks for 48 weeks. A total of approximately 1200 patients were enrolled with 892 patients receiving Macugen and 298 receiving a sham injection. The median age of the patients was 77 years. Patients received a mean 8.5 treatments out of a possible 9 total treatments across all treatment arms. Patients were re-randomized between treatment and no treatment during the second year. Patients who continued treatment in year 2 received a mean of 16 treatments out of a possible total 17 overall.

The two trials enrolled patients with neovascular AMD characteristics including classic, occult, and mixed lesions of up to 12 disc areas and baseline visual acuity in the study eye between 20/40 and 20/320. The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of patients losing less than 15 letters of visual acuity, from baseline up to 54 week assessment. Verteporfin photodynamic therapy (PDT) usage was permitted at the discretion of the investigators in patients with predominantly classic lesions.

The groups treated with Macugen 0.3 mg exhibited a statistically significant result in both trials for the primary efficacy endpoint at 1 year: Study EOP1003, Macugen 73% vs. Sham 60%; Study EOP1004, Macugen 67% vs. Sham 53%. Concomitant use of PDT overall was low. More sham treated patients (75/296) received PDT than Macugen 0.3 mg treated patients (58/294).

On average, Macugen 0.3 mg treated patients and sham treated patients continued to experience vision loss. However, the rate of vision decline in the Macugen treated group was slower than the rate in the patients who received sham treatment. See Figure 1.

At the end of the first year (week 54), approximately 1050 of the original 1200 patients were re-randomized to either continue the same treatment or to discontinue treatment through week 102. See Figure 2.

Macugen was less effective during the second year than during the first year. The percentage of patients losing less than 15 letters from baseline to week 102 was: Study EOP1003, Macugen 38/67 (57%); Sham 30/54 (56%); Study EOP1004, Macugen 40/66 (61%); Sham 18/53 (34%).

Dose levels above 0.3 mg did not demonstrate any additional benefit.

The safety or efficacy of Macugen beyond 2 years has not been demonstrated.

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