Aflibercept Injection
Aflibercept injection is a VEGF inhibitor given directly into the eye to treat wet age-related macular degeneration, macular edema, diabetic macular edema, diabetic retinopathy, and retinopathy of prematurity.
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 2 clinical label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
📖 Aflibercept Injection: Patient Information Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of Aflibercept Injection — what it treats, how it works, how it’s taken, side effects, warnings and interactions. Tap any section to expand it.
🎯What it's used for▾
Aflibercept injection is approved to treat several conditions involving damaging or abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye.
- Neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD): Eylea treats the wet form of AMD, where abnormal blood vessels grow under the retina and leak fluid.
- Macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO): Eylea reduces swelling in the central retina caused by a blocked vein in the eye.
- Diabetic macular edema (DME): Eylea treats fluid buildup in the macula (center of the retina) related to diabetes.
- Diabetic retinopathy (DR): Eylea treats retinal damage caused by diabetes, with or without macular edema.
- Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP): Eylea is used to treat abnormal blood vessel growth in the retinas of pre-term infants.
⚙️How it works▾
Aflibercept acts as a decoy receptor — a man-made protein designed to intercept two signaling molecules, VEGF-A (vascular endothelial growth factor-A) and PlGF (placental growth factor). These molecules normally switch on receptors that tell blood vessels to grow and become leaky, which is what causes vision damage in conditions like wet AMD and diabetic macular edema. By binding to VEGF-A and PlGF before they can reach their real receptors, aflibercept blocks the signal and slows or stops abnormal vessel growth and leakage in the retina.
💊How it's taken▾
Aflibercept is injected directly into the eye (intravitreal injection) by a qualified physician — you don't take this medication yourself at home. The frequency of injections depends on your condition. For wet AMD, injections typically start monthly for the first three months, then shift to every two months; some patients may need continued monthly dosing. For DME and DR, monthly injections are given for the first five doses, then typically every two months. For RVO, injections are usually given monthly. For ROP in pre-term infants, injections are given as needed with at least 10 days between doses in the same eye.
- Each vial or pre-filled syringe is for one eye only — a new sterile product is used for the second eye if both need treatment.
- Your doctor will monitor your eye pressure after each injection.
- Attend all scheduled follow-up appointments, as your dosing interval may be adjusted over time.
🤒Side effects — in detail▾
The most commonly reported side effects with Eylea include:
- Conjunctival hemorrhage (a red patch on the white of the eye from a small surface bleed)
- Eye pain
- Cataract (clouding of the eye's lens)
- Vitreous detachment (the gel in the eye separating from the retina)
- Vitreous floaters (spots or threads drifting across your vision)
- Increased pressure inside the eye
Serious but less common risks include endophthalmitis (deep eye infection), retinal detachment, retinal vasculitis, and a small risk of stroke or heart attack. Contact your doctor immediately if you notice sudden eye pain, redness, increased light sensitivity, or any sudden change in vision after an injection.
⚠️Warnings & precautions▾
- Eye infection and retinal detachment: Any intravitreal injection carries a risk of endophthalmitis (serious infection inside the eye) and retinal detachment. Get medical help right away for eye pain, redness, light sensitivity, or sudden vision changes.
- Increased eye pressure: Eye pressure can spike within 60 minutes after an injection. Your doctor will check this after each treatment.
- Retinal vasculitis: Inflammation of the retinal blood vessels, sometimes with blockage, has been reported rarely. Report any new visual disturbances promptly.
- Cardiovascular risk: There is a small risk of serious blood clot events (stroke, heart attack) with VEGF inhibitors. This risk should be discussed with your doctor, especially if you have other cardiovascular risk factors.
- ROP monitoring: In pre-term infants treated for ROP, the condition can return after treatment. Infants need extended retinal monitoring and may need additional injections or laser therapy.
- Allergic reactions: Serious hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, have been reported. This drug is contraindicated in patients with known allergy to aflibercept or any product ingredient.
🔀What it interacts with▾
The FDA label for aflibercept injection does not identify specific drug, food, or supplement interactions.
This is not a complete list of interactions. Always talk with your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping, or changing any medication.
📋Before taking it▾
- Active eye infection or periocular infection: Do not use this medication if you have an active infection in or around the eye.
- Active intraocular inflammation: This drug is contraindicated if there is active inflammation inside the eye.
- Known allergy: Do not use if you have had an allergic reaction to aflibercept or any ingredient in the formulation.
- Pregnancy: Animal studies showed serious fetal harm. Tell your doctor right away if you are pregnant or think you might be. Use only if your doctor determines the benefit outweighs the risk.
- Contraception: Women who can become pregnant should use effective birth control before starting treatment, throughout treatment, and for at least 3 months after the last injection.
- Breastfeeding: It is not known whether aflibercept passes into breast milk. Breastfeeding is not recommended during treatment.
- Pre-term infants (ROP): Safety and effectiveness have been shown in clinical studies in pre-term infants; extended monitoring after treatment is required.
- Older adults: No differences in safety or effectiveness were found in patients 65 and older, who made up the majority of study participants.
- Kidney impairment: No dose adjustment is needed for patients with kidney impairment based on available data.
🚑If you take too much▾
If too much fluid is injected into the eye, the pressure inside the eye can rise to harmful levels. If an overdose occurs, your doctor will monitor your intraocular pressure and treat it as needed. This is managed in a clinical setting by the physician administering the injection.
📡Pharmacodynamics — effects in the body▾
Aflibercept works locally in the eye after injection, reducing the abnormal blood vessel growth and fluid leakage that damage the retina. In clinical studies, treatment with Eylea led to measurable reductions in retinal thickness — a sign of reduced fluid — in patients with macular edema from RVO and diabetic macular edema. Improvements in anatomic measures of disease activity were also seen in wet AMD patients over time.
🔬Pharmacokinetics — how your body processes it▾
After the injection, aflibercept works primarily inside the eye. Only a small fraction enters the bloodstream, and blood levels of free (unbound) aflibercept are typically undetectable within about two weeks of a dose. The drug is broken down by the body through normal protein metabolism and by binding to circulating VEGF. No dose adjustment is needed for patients with kidney problems or for older adults, and the drug does not appear to accumulate in the blood with repeated eye injections on standard schedules.
📦How to store it▾
Refrigerate EYLEA at 2°C to 8°C (36°F to 46°F). Do not freeze. Store in the original carton until time of use to protect from light.
📄 Written from Aflibercept Injection’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Every point is grounded in that labeling — nothing is invented. How we use AI →
🩺 Pharmacist Counseling Corner
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Aflibercept Injection — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
Why do I need injections in my eye — is there any other way to take this? ▾
How often will I need to come in for injections? ▾
What side effects should I expect, and which ones should make me call my doctor right away? ▾
Is this medication safe if I'm pregnant or trying to get pregnant? ▾
Will my eye pressure be okay after the injection? ▾
Does my kidney disease or age affect how this medication works for me? ▾
Is Aflibercept Injection available over the counter? ▾
When was Aflibercept Injection first available? ▾
Who makes Aflibercept Injection? ▾
💬 Answers drafted from Aflibercept Injection’s FDA-approved label information, summarized in plain language with AI, and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Grounded in that labeling — nothing is made up. How we use AI →
🧰 Keep exploring
💊 How Aflibercept Injection comes
Aflibercept Injection is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Injection
How this form is used
- Eylea is used to treat neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD), macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO), diabetic macular edema (DME), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in pre-term infants
- Eylea is available as both a single-use vial and a pre-filled syringe for intravitreal injection by a qualified physician
- Eylea must only be administered by a qualified physician using sterile technique directly into the eye (intravitreal injection)
- Eylea pre-filled syringes are for one-time use in one eye only; the pre-filled syringe should not be used for treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)
- Eylea vials require a filter needle for preparation and a separate injection needle for administration — these are not interchangeable
- After each Eylea injection, your doctor will monitor eye pressure; report any eye pain, redness, light sensitivity, or blurred vision without delay
📊 Aflibercept Injection across the U.S. market
How Aflibercept Injection appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
📈 How widely Aflibercept Injection is used
A general measure of how commonly Aflibercept Injection is prescribed, based on Medicaid — one of the largest public drug programs. The figure below is prescriptions filled in Q1–Q4 2025, summed across every form and brand of the drug.
Think of this as a proxy for how widely Aflibercept Injection is used, drawn from freely available public data. Medicaid is just one program — these numbers don’t include Medicare, other government coverage, or commercial and cash-pay prescriptions, so real-world use is higher than what’s shown here.
How commonly is Aflibercept Injection prescribed? Of the 1,596 medications we measure, Aflibercept Injection ranks #381 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 76% of them.
Utilization by Aflibercept Injection product
Pick a product to see its own Medicaid numbers. Each chip is one clinical product — a specific strength & dosage form as defined by RxNorm — with brand-name and generic versions combined.
0.05 ML aflibercept 40 MG/ML Prefilled Syringe Most dispensed
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2693564
0.05 ML aflibercept 40 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 2 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 1232154
0.07 ML aflibercept 114 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 8 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2645305
0.05 ML aflibercept-ayyh 40 MG/ML Prefilled Syringe
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2696260
0.05 ML aflibercept-ayyh 40 MG/ML Injection
Summed across the 1 of 2 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 2696270
Shares are of the Medicaid prescriptions shown here. Product grouping follows RxNorm (the National Library of Medicine’s drug terminology), so “one product” means one strength & dosage form regardless of manufacturer. Dollar figures are gross Medicaid reimbursement before mandatory rebates — rebates (often large, especially for brand-name drugs) are confidential, so actual net cost to Medicaid is lower than shown.
Source: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (CMS), aggregated by generic ingredient — summed across every NDC (all brands, strengths, salt forms and dosage forms) of Aflibercept Injection, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 6 of 16 listed Aflibercept Injection NDCs with Medicaid activity.
🔍 Compare Aflibercept Injection products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Aflibercept Injection — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Injection | ||||
| 2 mg/0.05 mL | — | Catalent Indiana, LLC | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 8 mg/0.07 mL | — | Catalent Indiana, LLC | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 40 mg/mL | — | Catalent Indiana, LLC × 2 listings | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 114.3 mg/mL | — | Catalent Indiana, LLC | EXPORT ONLY | View NDC → |
| 8 mg/0.07 mL | Intravitreal | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc × 4 listings | BLA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg/mL | — | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 40 mg/mL | — | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
| 40 mg/mL | Intravitreal | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. × 4 listings | BLA | View NDC → |
| 114.3 mg/mL | — | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | DRUG FOR FURTHER PROCESSING | View NDC → |
Showing 16 of 16 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 16 Aflibercept Injection NDCs →
📈 What people report — real-world data (FDA FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Aflibercept Injection — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Aflibercept Injection in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
🏛️ The road to your pharmacy
How Aflibercept Injection went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
🚨 Recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
Source: openFDA drug enforcement (recall) reports.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 1232150 2 dose forms · 12 strengths
-
Dose form (SCDF) Injection RxCUI 1723180In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 0.05 ML aflibercept 40 MG/MLRxCUI 12321540.05 ML aflibercept-ayyh 40 MG/MLRxCUI 26962700.05 ML aflibercept-boav 40 MG/MLRxCUI 27258990.05 ML aflibercept-mrbb 40 MG/MLRxCUI 27065330.05 ML aflibercept-yszy 40 MG/MLRxCUI 27154030.07 ML aflibercept 114 MG/MLRxCUI 26453054 ML ziv-aflibercept 25 MG/MLRxCUI 17231938 ML ziv-aflibercept 25 MG/MLRxCUI 1723187 -
Dose form (SCDF) Prefilled Syringe RxCUI 2693563No current FDA listingClinical drug / strength (SCD) 0.05 ML aflibercept 40 MG/MLRxCUI 26935640.05 ML aflibercept-ayyh 40 MG/MLRxCUI 26962600.05 ML aflibercept-boav 40 MG/MLRxCUI 27258890.05 ML aflibercept-jbvf 40 MG/MLRxCUI 2749097
Look up RxCUI 1232150 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
📦 Supply & shortage status
Whether Aflibercept Injection is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
🏷️ Sold under these brand names
🏭 Manufacturers & labelers
RxNorm drug class
Aflibercept Injection belongs to the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Inhibitor class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
🔬 Where this comes from
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How we combine label and product data
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records; we don’t author the underlying clinical facts. We identified 2 FDA-filed SPL label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. The representative label is the starting point for the displayed reference monograph; the 12 largest stored in-scope SPL records, which may include that representative, are compared section by section, and the longest available version of each section is retained. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, product-listed strengths, and product-record counts are aggregated separately from ingredient-matched FDA NDC Directory records; package records listed above are associated with the linked SPL; and the normalized concept hierarchy comes from NLM RxNorm.
Where a section is identified as AI-written, its plain-language text is generated from bounded label evidence. New draft drug pages remain in the admin review queue before first publication. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates; it is not the sole source used for the page.
This is general education, not medical advice — always consult your doctor or pharmacist about your medications and any medical condition. For the exact wording of the linked representative label, view that label on DailyMed; some displayed composite sections may come from other in-scope SPL labels. Learn how we use AI and our data sources & update cadence.