Adrian Skelly

The economic and humanistic burden of patients in receipt of current available therapies for nAMD

AIM To determine the economic and humanistic burden of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in a cohort of patients treated with anti-VEGF in Europe and the US. PATIENTS & METHODS 79 respondents from the EU and 63 from the US with a self-reported diagnosis of nAMD and in current receipt of treatment, as reported in an international, general population survey, were compared with non-nAMD controls. RESULTS Anti-VEGF-treated nAMD patients in the EU had a greater utilization of healthcare resources, poorer quality of life and greater overall activity impairment versus non-nAMD controls. In the US cohort, treated nAMD patients had significantly greater resource utilization for ophthalmologist visits only. CONCLUSION The burden of care associated with nAMD on EU and US healthcare systems, and on patients who are in receipt of nAMD therapy, is significant and likely to be unsustainable.