Incidence of inflammatory reactions after intravitreal injection of a biosimilar of ranibizumab for the treatment of various retinal vascular conditions

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Razumab is a biosimilar of ranibizumab and its intravitreal injection in various retinal diseases has been reported with good results. However, the incidence of inflammation in the anterior chamber and vitreous after the intravitreal injection of Razumab has not been studied so far. AIMS OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study was to study the incidence of inflammatory reaction in the anterior chamber and vitreous after intravitreal Razumab. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a single-center, nonrandomized observational study of eyes that received intravitreal Razumab injection for various retinal indications. The eyes were examined for anterior chamber and vitreous reaction at regular intervals. Preinjection and postinjection visual acuity and intraocular pressure (IOP) were noted. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The proportion of eyes developing anterior chamber and vitreous reaction were calculated with confidence intervals. The pre- and postinjection visual acuity and IOP were compared by Student's t-test for significant changes. RESULTS: Eighty-two injections were performed in 40 eyes of 33 patients. Four eyes (4.8%) showed anterior chamber reaction among which one eye had vitreous reaction also. All four eyes had no adverse effect on visual acuity and recovered completely. Mean preinjection logMAR visual acuity of 0.69 ± 0.41 improved to 0.58 ± 0.38 postinjection (P < 0.0001). The mean preinjection IOP changed from 16.2 ± 3.9 mmHg to 14.7 ± 3.4 mmHg postinjection (P = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of inflammatory reaction was found to be higher with Razumab compared to the incidence reported in the literature for ranibizumab. However, visual acuity was not affected by this inflammatory reaction.

Keywords

• antivascular endothelial growth factor
• biosimilar
• inflammation
• intravitreal
• ranibizumab
• razumab