GA Patients Have Twice the Odds of Developing nAMD After Complement Inhibitor Therapy

A recent presentation at ARVO showed that GA patients who receive complement-inhibiting injections were more likely to develop nAMD, especially with increasing numbers of injections. Photo: Jessica Haynes, OD. Click image to enlarge. Geographic atrophy (GA) treatments targeting complement inhibition (pegcetacoplan and avacincaptad pegol) have demonstrated efficacy in reducing GA lesion size growth, but have also been associated with higher rates of conversion to neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in clinical trials. A study presented at ARVO aimed to evaluate this association in real-world clinical practice by conducting a retrospective, case-control study to determine whether anti-complement therapy is associated with a higher incidence of new-onset nAMD in eyes with GA. They found that patients who received complement-inhibitor therapy were more likely to develop wet AMD, especially with increasing numbers of injections.A total of 987 eyes from 896 patients at Retina Consultants of Texas were reviewed. Eyes diagnosed with GA between February 2023 and June 2025 were included if they had no baseline nAMD and ≥180 days of follow-up. Treated eyes were required to have three or more anti-complement injections. Chi-square testing, odds ratios and logistic regression modeling were used to assess associations between treatment and conversion risk.Conversion to wet AMD occurred in 17% of treated eyes and 9% of untreated ones. Logistic regression demonstrated a significant positive association between number of injections and conversion risk, with each injection increasing conversion odds by approximately 8%.Data demonstrated a significantly higher incidence of new-onset nAMD among GA eyes treated with anti-complement therapy compared with untreated eyes. The positive association between injection frequency and conversion risk highlights the need for careful monitoring of patients undergoing repeated complement inhibition, the researchers noted in their ARVO abstract.Original abstracts ©2026 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Click here for the source. Franklin Lano C, Baumann L, Teagle GM, et al. Real-world outcomes of patients with geographic atrophy developing neovascular age-related macular degeneration after receiving anti-complement therapy. ARVO 2026 annual meeting. This article was developed by the editorial staff in conjunction with experts in the field. In the process, AI may have been among the editorial tools used to meet the goals of human editors, who approved all content.