Objective:
To quantitatively assess retina specialists' preferences for geographic atrophy (GA) treatment options.
Approach:
- Study Design: A best-best discrete choice experiment was conducted with 166 US-based retina specialists.
- Participants: All participants had at least seven years of clinical experience and managed at least 50 GA patients in the previous year.
- Survey Focus: The survey tested five key treatment characteristics: reduction in GA lesion growth rate, risk of intraocular inflammation, risk of progression to wet AMD, risk of retinal vasculitis, and frequency of intravitreal injections.
Key Findings:
- Efficacy dominated decision-making, particularly the reduction of lesion growth rate.
- Improving lesion growth rate reduction from 10% to 50% influenced treatment choice by 41-52%.
- Progression to wet AMD was the most influential safety risk, affecting 18-22% of decision-making.
- Intravitreal injection frequency had the smallest impact on treatment preference.
- 80% of specialists expressed willingness to offer gene therapy for GA.
Interpretation:
Limitations:
- The study's findings may not generalize beyond the surveyed specialists.
- Willingness to adopt gene therapy depends on future therapies meeting efficacy and safety benchmarks.
Conclusion:
Sources:
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