Trending News: Treat-and-Extend Ranibizumab Effective in Patients with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Disease

A treat-and-extend (T&E) regimen of administering ranibizumab to patients with neovascular age-related macular disease produced comparable results to monthly dosing administrations, according to The American Journal of Managed Care. In a randomized, open-label, multicenter, noninferiority intention-to-treat trial, 580 patients from 27 treatment centers in Canada were administered ranibizumab between May 2013 and August 2018. The findings confirmed the feasibility and efficacy of T&E ranibizumab regimens and demonstrated that this approach is not worse than monthly regimens.

Influenza activity in the United States has started to increase after falling during the first 2 weeks of 2020, according to Contagion Live. The latest FluView surveillance from the CDC reports that as of January 18, 2020, there have been 15 million cases of influenza, 140,000 hospitalizations, and 8200 deaths this flu season in the United States. Although the agency is reporting that flu activity is high at this point in the season, severity markers, including hospitalization and death, are not considered high at this time.

Flavanols, an antioxidant found in teas, fruits, and vegetables, could aid in the prevention of Alzheimer disease, according to MD Magazine. Results of the Rush Memory and Aging Project indicated patients with the highest intake of flavanol were less likely to develop Alzheimer dementia compared with patients in the lowest quintile of flavanol intake. Eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking more tea could be a fairly inexpensive and easy way for people to stave off Alzheimer dementia, according to the study authors.