Archway Randomized Phase 3 Trial of the Port Delivery System with Ranibizumab for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Port Delivery System with ranibizumab (PDS) for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Design: Phase 3, open-label, randomized, visual acuity assessor-masked noninferiority and equivalence trial. Participants: Patients with nAMD diagnosed within 9 months of screening previously treated with and responsive to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy. Methods: Patients were randomized 3:2 to treatment with the PDS with ranibizumab 100 mg/ml with fixed 24-week (Q24W) refill-exchanges (PDS Q24W) or intravitreal ranibizumab 0.5-mg injections every 4 weeks (monthly ranibizumab). Main Outcome Measures: Primary end point was change in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study letter (letters) score from baseline averaged over weeks 36 and 40 (noninferiority margin,-4.5 letters; equivalence margin, +/- 4.5 letters). Results: Archway enrolled 418 patients; 251 were randomized to and 248 received treatment with the PDS Q24W, and 167 were randomized to and received treatment with monthly ranibizumab. Baseline BCVA was 74.4 letters (PDS Q24W arm) and 75.5 letters (monthly ranibizumab arm; Snellen equivalent, 20/32). Adjusted mean change in BCVA score from baseline averaged over weeks 36 and 40 was +0.2 letters (standard error [SE], 0.5 letters) in the PDS Q24W arm and +0.5 letters (SE, 0.6 letters) in the monthly ranibizumab arm (difference,-0.3 letters; 95% confidence interval,-1.7 to 1.1 letters). PDS Q24W was both noninferior and equivalent to monthly ranibizumab. Of 246 PDS-treated patients assessed for supplemental ranibizumab treatment, 242 (98.4%) did not receive supplemental ranibizumab treatment before the first refill-exchange procedure, including 4 patients who discontinued treatment before the first refill-exchange procedure. Prespecified ocular adverse events of special interest were reported in 47 patients (19.0%) in the PDS Q24W arm and 10 patients (6.0%) in the monthly ranibizumab arm, which included, in the former arm, 4 (1.6%) endophthalmitis cases, 2 (0.8%) retinal detachments, 13 (5.2%) vitreous hemorrhages, 6 (2.4%) conjunctival erosions, and 5 (2.0%) conjunctival retractions. Most ocular adverse events in the PDS Q24W arm occurred within 1 month of implantation. Conclusions: Archway met its primary objective and PDS Q24W demonstrated noninferior and equivalent efficacy to monthly ranibizumab, with 98.4% of PDS-treated patients not receiving supplemental treatment in the first 24-week interval. Ophthalmology 2022;129:295-307 (c) 2021 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of Port Delivery System (PDS) with ranibizumab for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). The results showed that PDS was noninferior and equivalent to monthly ranibizumab, with a high percentage of PDS-treated patients not requiring supplemental treatment within the first 24 weeks.