{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,5]],"date-time":"2026-06-05T02:59:06Z","timestamp":1780628346241,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1751328000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1751328000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014850","name":"Bayer Consumer Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014850","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009857","name":"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009857","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Ophthalmol Eye Dis"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:bold>What is this summary about?<\/jats:bold>\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003This is a summary of a publication about the PULSAR study, which was published in\n                    <jats:italic>The Lancet<\/jats:italic>\n                    scientific journal.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003Wet age-related\n                    <jats:bold>macular degeneration<\/jats:bold>\n                    (or AMD) is a long-term eye disease in which abnormal blood vessels grow in the back of the eye. As these vessels leak fluid or blood, the word \u201cwet\u201d is part of the disease name.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>This affects the central part of a person\u2019s vision, which can make it hard for people to read, drive, or perform other daily activities. It is one of the main causes of visual loss in older people, and if it is left untreated, it can lead to rapid loss of vision.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003People with wet AMD can be treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (or anti-\n                    <jats:bold>VEGF<\/jats:bold>\n                    ) medicine, given as an injection into the back of the eye. This type of medicine can improve vision by directly reducing the leakage into the\n                    <jats:bold>macula<\/jats:bold>\n                    and by stopping the growth of new, abnormal blood vessels. This leads to reduced swelling of the\n                    <jats:bold>macula<\/jats:bold>\n                    , which is measured by central retinal thickness. These therapies need frequent eye injections. One of the biggest difficulties for many people and their caregivers is that they need to keep up with visits for their injections that are often required to maintain good vision.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003\n                    <jats:bold>Aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    is an anti-\n                    <jats:bold>VEGF<\/jats:bold>\n                    medicine that health authorities across different countries have approved for the treatment of wet AMD, as well as other eye diseases, which we will not discuss in this material. People with wet AMD can receive injections of\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    2\u2009mg, given initially once per month for three months. After that, people usually receive treatment every 8\u2009weeks, or sometimes less frequently, depending on their doctors\u2019 assessments of the disease state.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003The PULSAR study was carried out to see if a higher, 8\u2009mg, dose of\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    would provide the same treatment results as\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    2\u2009mg, but with the need for fewer injections. If fewer injections are necessary, this can potentially help patients and their caregivers keep up with treatment.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\u2022\u2003The PULSAR study involved a direct comparison of the two doses of this anti-VEGF medicine in patients with wet AMD who were placed into one of three treatment groups with different dosing intervals at random.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:bold>What were the results?<\/jats:bold>\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003Through the first year (or 48\u2009weeks), participants who received injections of\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    8\u2009mg every 12 or 16\u2009weeks after an injection once per month for three months, had improvements in vision that were similar to those of participants treated with\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    2\u2009mg every 8\u2009weeks.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003After the injection once per month for three months, at Week 16, there were fewer participants treated with the 8\u2009mg dose who had abnormal fluid leakage in the\n                    <jats:bold>macula<\/jats:bold>\n                    compared to the 2\u2009mg dose.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003At Week 48, participants who received\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    8\u2009mg had similar decreases in the thickness of the retina in the central region as those treated with\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    2\u2009mg.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003Most participants who received\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    8\u2009mg and completed 48\u2009weeks of the study maintained their 12- or 16-week injection schedules, without needing to shorten the interval between injections.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003Adverse events in participants treated with\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    8\u2009mg were also similar to those in participants treated with\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    2\u2009mg.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:bold>What do the results mean?<\/jats:bold>\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    \u2022\u2003Findings show that\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    8\u2009mg can improve vision to the same extent as\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    2\u2009mg in people with wet AMD, but with fewer injections than\n                    <jats:bold>aflibercept<\/jats:bold>\n                    2\u2009mg so that people can potentially keep up with their treatments more easily.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/25158414251356388","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]],"date-time":"2025-08-18T10:41:27Z","timestamp":1755513687000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Plain language summary of publication of the 48-week results from the PULSAR study investigating how well a new dose of aflibercept works and how safe it is for people with wet age-related macular degeneration"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3746-141X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paolo","family":"Lanzetta","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine\u2014Ophthalmology, University of Udine, and Istituto Europeo di Microchirurgia Oculare\u2014IEMO, Udine-Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jean-Fran\u00e7ois","family":"Korobelnik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CHU Bordeaux, Service d\u2019Ophtalmologie, Bordeaux, France"},{"name":"University of Bordeaux, INSERM, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, UMR1219, Bordeaux, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jeffrey S.","family":"Heier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston, Boston, MA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sergio","family":"Leal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bayer Consumer Care AG, Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frank G.","family":"Holz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"William Lloyd","family":"Clark","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Palmetto Retina Center, West Columbia, SC, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Eichenbaum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Retina Vitreous Associates of Florida, Tampa, FL, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tomohiro","family":"Iida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Tokyo Women\u2019s Medical University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaodong","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alyson J.","family":"Berliner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Schulze","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1358-3172","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas","family":"Schmelter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ursula","family":"Schmidt-Ott","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bayer Consumer Care AG, Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert","family":"Vitti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karen W.","family":"Chu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kimberly","family":"Reed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rohini","family":"Rao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rafia","family":"Bhore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yenchieh","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tien Y.","family":"Wong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore, and Tsinghua Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]]},"container-title":["Therapeutic Advances in 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