Acceptability of intravitreal therapy for geographic atrophy - AGAIN
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Acceptability of complement inhibitor intravitreal therapies for geographic atrophy: The AGAIN study
IRAS ID
324854
Contact name
Christiana Dinah
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
London North West University Hospital NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common cause of blindness, affecting the central part of a person’s vision; Geographic Atrophy (GA) is an advanced form of AMD. In GA, loss of central vision occurs due to degeneration
of cells in the retina, causing large gaps or alterations in vision. Globally, 5 million people have GA, and GA accounts for ~26% of legal blindness in the UK.
There is currently no available treatment for GA. Recently however, progress has been made in developing possible treatments to slow GA growth. Whilst these work in different ways, they mostly involve injections into the eye, regularly
for an indefinite period. These eye injections occur at monthly, bimonthly or 3 monthly intervals, and may slow growth of GA by up to 20% in 1 year, depending on therapy and frequency of injections, meaning GA takes longer to affect the central vision.
From other eye diseases, we know eye injections are associated with significant anxiety and stress, as well as the burden of attending regular hospital appointments. Nevertheless, patients are often highly motivated to attend these
appointments. Whilst in other conditions, eye injections improve vision, proposed GA treatments slow vision loss but will not improve vision. It is therefore unknown whether GA patients will be similarly motivated to adhere to treatments,
how often they would be willing to undergo them, and what factors would make treatments acceptable. In our earlier study, we interviewed 30 people with GA and explored themes around patients’ understanding of GA and acceptability of the new treatments on the horizon. We found that 60% of our participants with GA find the new treatments acceptable and factors that influenced acceptability were side-effects, how well they work and difficulties with need for frequent injections. The current study seeks to confirm our findings in a larger sample of patients with GA.REC name
London - West London & GTAC Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/PR/0192
Date of REC Opinion
7 Mar 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion