What the trial was testing
The PULSAR enrolled 1,011 patients with macular degeneration. The study was sponsored by Bayer and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was a large trial designed to confirm whether the treatment works well enough for wider use. Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
~80% of patients on high-dose aflibercept stretched injections to every 12 weeks or longer.
The Lancet · 2024 · NCT04423718
These findings — that on high-dose aflibercept stretched injections to every 12 weeks or longer at 48 weeks — were published in the The Lancet and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 1,011 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with macular degeneration, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
Aflibercept 8 mg (Eylea HD) is FDA-approved for wet macular degeneration and available now. If you're already getting Eylea, ask your retina specialist whether the higher-dose version could let you cut your injection visits roughly in half. Vision outcomes are the same; the win is fewer trips to the office.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open macular degeneration trials
A Study to Compare GNR-139 and Eylea® in Patients With nAMD
This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind study designed to compare the efficacy and safety of the investigational drug GNR-139 with the reference drug Eylea in treatment-naive patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either GNR-139 or Eylea. Neither the participants nor the study doctors will know which treatment is being administered. Both drugs will be given as an intravitreal injection dose of 8 mg (0.07 mL at a concentration of 114.3 mg/mL). Patients meeting the eligibility criteria will be randomised in a 2:1 ratio into one of two treatment groups: * Group I (GNR-139): 120 patients; * Group II (Eylea®): 60 patients. The main goal of the study is to evaluate if GNR-139 has similar efficacy to Eylea. This will be determined by measuring the change in the Best-Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) score at Week 8 in participants who completed the treatment.
Dark Adaptation as an Early Indicator of Response to Statin Therapy for Intermediate AMD
interventional trial for off label use of high dose atorvastatin 80 mg in intermediate AMD patients and correlate recovery response measured by dark adaptation recovery time with drusen volume reduction measured by SD-OCT