Twelve‑month, real‑world data from a large U.S. registry suggest that faricimab provides effective, durable, and safe treatment for retinal vein occlusion (RVO), reinforcing findings from earlier clinical trials and its 2023 approval. Speaking at Retina 2026 in Waikoloa, Hawaii, and reported by Healio.com, Durga Borkar, MD, MMCi, presented the FARETINA‑RVO study, a retrospective analysis using data from the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s IRIS Registry.
To be included, patients needed an ICD‑10–coded diagnosis of branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) or central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) with documented laterality. The analysis captured a substantial real‑world population: 5,894 eyes with BRVO and 4,255 eyes with CRVO. Notably, the vast majority were previously treated with anti‑VEGF therapy (91.3% in BRVO; 91.8% in CRVO), allowing evaluation of both treatment‑naïve and switch patients.
In the BRVO cohort, faricimab delivered robust functional and anatomical outcomes. More than 80% of treatment‑naïve eyes (n = 250) and previously treated eyes (n = 3,118) maintained or exceeded baseline visual acuity (VA) at 12 months. Treatment‑naïve BRVO eyes gained a median of almost 11 letters, while vision was preserved overall in previously treated eyes. A subgroup with imaging data showed meaningful structural improvement: mean central subfield thickness (CST) decreased from 367.1 µm to 316.6 µm in treatment‑naïve eyes (n = 27) and from 323.9 µm to 297.2 µm in previously treated eyes (n = 568), the latter reaching statistical significance.
Durability emerged as a key advantage. Across both treatment‑naïve and previously treated BRVO eyes, fewer injections were required in the second six months compared with the first. Among previously treated eyes, the average treatment interval was extended by about 10 days relative to pre‑switch regimens, suggesting that faricimab can support longer dosing intervals without sacrificing outcomes.
Similar trends were observed in CRVO. Treatment‑naïve CRVO eyes (n = 167) gained a mean of six letters from baseline, while vision was maintained in 2,328 previously treated eyes. Again, over 80% of both treatment‑naïve and previously treated eyes maintained or exceeded their baseline VA. Anatomically, mean CST fell from 500.8 µm to 317 µm in treatment‑naïve eyes (n = 23) and from 313.3 µm to 289.1 µm in previously treated eyes (n = 456). As in BRVO, both groups required fewer injections in the latter half of the year.
Safety findings were consistent with prior phase 3 trials, with low rates of serious adverse events: endophthalmitis occurred at a rate of 0.06, and idiopathic orbital inflammation at 0.23.
Borkar noted that these data provide a “50,000‑foot view” of how clinicians are integrating faricimab into everyday practice for RVO. Taken together, the results support faricimab’s real‑world effectiveness, durability, and safety, and underscore its role as a practical option for managing both BRVO and CRVO.
