Intravitreal Administration of Avacincaptad Pegol in a Nonhuman Primate Model of Dry Age‐Related Macular Degeneration

The lack of effective treatments for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is in part due to a lack of a preclinical animal model that recapitulates features of the clinical state including macular retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) degeneration, also known as geographic atrophy (GA). A nonhuman primate model of GA was developed and its responsiveness to an approved treatment, avacincaptad pegol (ACP), a complement C5 inhibitor, was evaluated. Intravitreal (ivt) administration of sodium iodate (SI) into one eye of male Macaca fascicularis leads to retinal areas (mm²) of hyper- or hypo-autofluorescence. Qualitative changes to the retinal structure over time were observed with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). Six days after SI administration, prior to treatment, mean (± SEM) GA of all eyes was 8.2 ± 1.8 mm². Following randomization to treatment groups, either vehicle or ACP was ivt injected and treatment was continued every 4 weeks, for a total of four treatments. Sixteen weeks after SI administration, the GA area in vehicle-treated eyes was 18.9 ± 6.6 mm², whereas GA in ACP-treated eyes was 11.4 ± 4.0 mm², a reduction by about 36%. Increased, followed by decreased, overall macular thickness was observed with OCT over time following SI administration. Treatment with ACP did not change alter macular thickness thinning. Geographic atrophy-like lesions that expand over time are observed following SI administration. The current macaque model could be utilized to further explore the mechanism of dry AMD and to develop more novel therapeutics.