Pilot Study of the Evaluation of Subconjunctival Sirolimus in the Treatment of Bilateral GA Associated With AMD

Phase 1

Completed

Conditions: Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Interventions: Drug: Sirolimus

Registration Number: NCT00766649

Lead Sponsor: National Eye Institute (NEI)

Brief Summary: This study will determine if a drug called sirolimus is safe to give to people with geographic atrophy GA and if it can help preserve vision in patients. GA is an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD affects the macula, the central part of the retina needed for sharp, clear vision. There are two types of AMD, wet and dry. In dry AMD, cells in the macula die.GA may at least partly be caused by inflammation. Sirolimus helps prevent inflammation and therefore may help treat GA.

People with GA in both eyes with visual acuity between 20/20 and 20/400 in each eye may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following tests and procedures:

* Sirolimus injections in the study eye at each 3-month clinic visit. The drug is injected under the outer layer of the eye after the patient receives antiseptic and numbing drops. Antibiotic drops are continued for 2 days after the injection.

* Eye examinations before the first injection, 1 month after the first injection, during each clinic visit (11 to 15 visits over 2 to 3 years) and 3 months after the final injection. The examination includes testing visual acuity, measuring eye pressure and checking eye movements. To examine the inside of the eye, the pupil is dilated with eye drops. Regular photographs of the inside of the eye and optical coherence tomography photographs, which allow measurement of the thickness of the retina, may be taken during the eye examination.

* Autofluorescence imaging. The patient sits in a chair with his or her head placed in a chin rest in front of a camera. A light in the camera is used to scan the eye.

* Blood tests. Blood is drawn at the first visit and at up to seven study visits to check blood chemistries, such as liver and kidney function.

* Urine pregnancy test for women who are able to become pregnant.

Detailed Description: Objective: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in people over age 55 in the United States, is a heterogeneous clinical entity in which retinal degeneration occurs predominantly in the macula in the context of aging and leads to impairment of central visual acuity. AMD occurs in two general forms, one of which involves choroidal neovascularization (CNV) with subsequent formation of a disciform scar. This is often referred to as the neovascular or "wet" form. A second form, the subject of this study, is termed "dry" or atrophic macular degeneration and involves a constellation of clinical features that can include drusen, pigment clumping and/or retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) dropout and geographic atrophy (GA). GA can begin as a thinning of the RPE with involvement of the underlying choriocapillaris and lead subsequently to an atrophic change in the macula. Inflammation may play a role in the pathogenesis of GA. Sirolimus inhibits the production, signaling and activity of many inflammatory factors relevant to the development of GA. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the safety and possible efficacy of multiple sirolimus subconjunctival injections in participants with bilateral GA.

Study Population: Ten participants with bilateral GA associated with AMD, with the potential to replace up to five participants if some fail to reach one year of follow-up.

Design: In this controlled, unmasked, Phase I/II study, one eye of eligible participants will be randomized to treatment while the fellow eye will be observed. Participants will receive a 20 μL (440 μg) subconjunctival injection of sirolimus in the study eye at baseline and every three months thereafter. The study will be completed once all participants have received two years of study medication and follow-up.

Outcome Measures: The primary outcome is the rate of change in area of GA, based on masked grading by an external Reading Center, of fundus photography in the study eye and fellow eye at two years compared with baseline. Secondary outcomes will include worsening of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of three or more lines (15 or more letters), changes in area of GA as measured on autofluorescence, changes in drusen volume as measured by optical coherence tomography, changes in photoreceptor outer segment (PROS) thickness as measured by optical coherence tomography, as well as changes in drusen area based on masked digital grading of fundus photographs. Safety outcomes will include the number and severity of systemic and ocular toxicities, adverse events and infections.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 11

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Sirolimus	Sirolimus	Participants receive a 20 μL (440 μg) subconjunctival injection of sirolimus in the study eye at baseline and every three months thereafter.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Rate of Change in Area of Geographic Atrophy (GA) in the Fellow Eye at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24	One Macular Photocoagulation Study Disc Area (MPS DA) is equivalent to 1.77 mm\^2 on the retina.
Rate of Change in Area of Geographic Atrophy (GA) in the Study Eye at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24	One Macular Photocoagulation Study Disc Area (MPS DA) is equivalent to 1.77 mm\^2 on the retina.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Drusen Volume as Measured by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24
Absolute Change in Total Area of Geographic Atrophy (GA) in the Study Eye at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24	Geographic atrophy (GA) is the death of photoreceptors and surrounding cells in the retina. The death of these photoreceptors results in lesions that cause vision loss. The area of GA was determined using planimetry for color stereoscopic fundus images by masked graders at the Doheny Image Reading Center (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA). This outcome measure was calculated by subtracting the GA value for the study eye at baseline from the GA value for the study eye at Month 24. One Macular Photocoagulation Study Disc Area (MPS DA) is equivalent to 1.77 mm\^2 on the retina.
Relative Change in Total Area of Geographic Atrophy (GA) in the Study Eye at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline to Month 24	Geographic atrophy (GA) is the death of photoreceptors and surrounding cells in the retina. The death of these photoreceptors results in lesions that cause vision loss. The area of GA was determined using planimetry for color stereoscopic fundus images by masked graders at the Doheny Image Reading Center (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA). This outcome measure was calculated by dividing the absolute change in the total area of GA in the study eye at 24 months by the baseline value. One Macular Photocoagulation Study Disc Area (MPS DA) is equivalent to 1.77 mm\^2 on the retina. As the unit of measure for both the absolute change in the total area of GA and the baseline value for the total area of GA is MPS DA, the unit of measure for the relative change in the total area of GA is "ratio."
Change in Total Area of Drusen in the Fellow Eye at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24	The total area occupied by drusen was determined using planimetry for color stereoscopic fundus images by masked graders at the Doheny Image Reading Center (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA). One Macular Photocoagulation Study Disc Area (MPS DA) is equivalent to 1.77 mm\^2 on the retina.
Absolute Change in Total Area of Geographic Atrophy (GA) in the Fellow Eye at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24	Geographic atrophy (GA) is the death of photoreceptors and surrounding cells in the retina. The death of these photoreceptors results in lesions that cause vision loss. The area of GA was determined using planimetry for color stereoscopic fundus images by masked graders at the Doheny Image Reading Center (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA). This outcome measure was calculated by subtracting the GA value for the fellow eye at baseline from the GA value for the study eye at Month 24. One Macular Photocoagulation Study Disc Area (MPS DA) is equivalent to 1.77 mm\^2 on the retina.
Change in Photoreceptor Outer Segment (PROS) Thickness as Measured by Optical Coherence Tomography at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24
Number of Study Eyes With a 15 Letter Drop From Baseline at 24 Months	Baseline and Month 24	Visual acuity was measured using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) protocol. Acuity is measured as letters read on an ETDRS eye chart and the letters read equate to Snellen measurements. For example, if a participant reads between 84 and 88 letters, the equivalent Snellen measurement is 20/20.
Relative Change in Total Area of Geographic Atrophy (GA) in the Fellow Eye at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24	Geographic atrophy (GA) is the death of photoreceptors and surrounding cells in the retina. The death of these photoreceptors results in lesions that cause vision loss. The area of GA was determined using planimetry for color stereoscopic fundus images by masked graders at the Doheny Image Reading Center (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA). This outcome measure was calculated by dividing the absolute change in the total area of GA in the fellow eye at 24 months by the baseline value. One Macular Photocoagulation Study Disc Area (MPS DA) is equivalent to 1.77 mm\^2 on the retina. As the unit of measure for both the absolute change in the total area of GA and the baseline value for the total area of GA is MPS DA, the unit of measure for the relative change in the total area of GA is "ratio."
Change in Total Area of Drusen in the Study Eye at 24 Months as Compared to Baseline	Baseline and Month 24	The total area occupied by drusen was determined using planimetry for color stereoscopic fundus images by masked graders at the Doheny Image Reading Center (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA). One Macular Photocoagulation Study Disc Area (MPS DA) is equivalent to 1.77 mm\^2 on the retina.