Roche Holding AG issued a vote of confidence in partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. by tapping the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company for a second alliance, focused on the treatment of complement-mediated diseases. The companies will collaborate on the development of IONIS-FB-LRx, targeting factor B (FB), in a broad range of diseases, beginning with geographic atrophy (GA), the advanced stage of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).