Dr. Jordi Monés moderates the Bayer Symposium at the 44th SCO Congress

The 44th Congress of the Catalan Ophthalmology Society (SCO) was held at the Hotel Barceló in Barcelona last week. The three-day event enabled eye doctors and specialists to gather and discuss the new developments and results of their recent ophthalmological research.

The opening day’s scientific activities included the moderation by Dr. Jordi Monés, the Medical Director of the Barcelona Macula Foundation, of the Symposium of the Bayer HealthCare laboratories. Discussion took place on a variety of subjects such as the new treatment of exudative AMD, EYLEA®, the results of the VIEW 1&2 studies and their safety profile.

Speakers like Laura Sararols, Lluís Arias and Santiago Abengoechea began the event with discussion on the various clinical cases. Dr. Monés then spoke of the importance of the new MACBETH trial, which is currently in phase IV. This is aimed at assessing the efficacy of EYLEA® in patients with neovascular AMD without optimal response to repeated monthly intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF agents.

An example of an “investigator-driven trial”, this is intended to clarify many of the doubts surrounding the treating of cases without optimal response to the current anti-VEGF agents and the possibility of changing the treatment protocols for this type of patient.

“Through a multicentric clinical trial like MACBETH, there will be less chance of bias. When it is completed, it will optimise the way we treat AMD” Dr. Monés said.

The Barcelona Macula Foundation is the coordinator of this research, in which the Institut de la Màcula i de la Retina and other ophthalmological centres in Catalonia and the rest of Spain also take part.