Oral zeaxanthin supplementation of triple combination therapy for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NVAMD) is comparatively effective and cost-effective to triple therapy alone according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. Findings from the randomized, 24-month clinical trial also suggest that the addition of oral zeaxanthin further improves vision and reduces the incidence of subsequent NVAMD in fellow eyes as well as the number of treatment cycles required.
A previous comparative, non-randomized study and cost-effective analysis published in the International Journal of Retina and Vitreous evaluated the efficacy of triple combination therapy with and without oral zeaxanthin, as well as the economic viability of the therapies. Researchers reported that NVAMD triple therapy is comparatively effective and cost-effective and requires considerably less treatment than needed with monotherapy, and that adding oral zeaxanthin appears to further reduce the treatment cycles required, and possibly reduce fellow eye choroidal neovascularization development.
The new study recruited a total of 144 participants, ages 52-94 (79-year mean) with NVAMD. Participants received either triple therapy (intravitreal bevacizumab, reduced-fluence photodynamic therapy and intravitreal dexamethasone) or the same triple therapy with 20-mg daily of oral zeaxanthin (EyePromise® Zeaxanthin, ZeaVision) supplementation. Among the findings, patient vision tests after 24 months showed improved vision (≥ 15 letters or ≥ 3-line vision gain) in 27% of the Zeaxanthin-supplemented group versus 9% in the unsupplemented.
“This clinical trial confirms that triple therapy supplementation with oral zeaxanthin yields a visual result superior to triple therapy alone,” says Joseph Olk, MD, Principal Investigator and partner at The Retina Center of St. Louis. “Adding oral zeaxanthin also appears to further reduce the number of treatment cycles required. Triple therapy was required a mean of 2.9 times over two-years, while triple therapy with zeaxanthin supplementation was administered a mean of 2.4 times,” he adds.
Zeaxanthin supplementation in the randomized clinical trial was remarkably cost-effective at $30/QALY (quality-adjusted life-year). While there are no formal cost-effectiveness standards in the U.S., many researchers consider an intervention costing less than $100,000/QALY to be cost-effective. “By World Health Organization cost-effectiveness standards oral zeaxanthin appears to be cost-effective for use with NVAMD in virtually every country globally,” notes Melissa Brown, MD, MN, MBA, CEO of the Center for Value-Based Medicine®, a healthcare economic research organization.
The study was supported in part by unrestricted grants from ZeaVision, Inc. to The Retina Center of St. Louis County and the Center for Value-Based Medicine®. The sponsor played no role in performing the trial, analyzing the results or altering the manuscript.
Source: Center for Value-Based Medicine