Patterns of ranibizumab and aflibercept treatment of central retinal vein occlusion in routine clinical practice in the USA

Background The intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatments ranibizumab and aflibercept have proven efficacy in clinical trials, but their real world usage in central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) has not been assessed. We therefore evaluated the treatment patterns of both drugs in a US claims database. Methods The IMS Integrated Data Warehouse was used to identify the patients with CRVO in the USA with claims for ranibizumab or aflibercept between 24 September 2012 and 31 March 2014 with at least 12 months follow-up. Patients were required to have had no anti-VEGF treatment code for 6 months before index ('treatment-naive'). Mean numbers of injections and non-injection visits to a treating physician were compared with patients receiving these treatments. Results Patient characteristics were similar for patients receiving ranibizumab (n = 206) or aflibercept (n = 79) at index. The mean (+/- SD) numbers of injections received by patients treated with ranibizumab or aflibercept were 4.4 +/- 2.8 and 4.7 +/- 2.9 (P = 0.38), respectively; the total number of patient visits to their treating physician was 7.3 +/- 3.7 and 7.0 +/- 2.9 (P = 0.52), respectively. For patients receiving one or more injections (n = 238), the mean interval between injections was 55.1 days (ranibizumab) and 54.2 days (aflibercept; P = 0.44). Conclusions Our results suggest that, in routine clinical practice, patients receive a comparable number of injections in the first year of treatment with ranibizumab or aflibercept. This may have implications for commissioning and service development of CRVO care pathways.