• Applied Genetic Technologies Corp., of Gainesville, Fla., initiated a Phase I study of AGTC-0106, its investigational gene therapy product to treat patients with alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, the cause of lung tissue degradation. AGTC-0106 is designed using an adeno-associated virus to deliver the AAT gene to patients.

• DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Wilmington, Mass., reported statistically significant interim results from its 80-patient Phase II trial of photodynamic therapy in mild to moderate photo-damage of the face. The study used DUSA’s Levulan (aminolevulinic acid HCl, ALA) Kerastick in combination with either its BLU-U brand blue light or a long pulsed dye laser.

• OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, and Pfizer Inc., also of New York, reported that the systemic safety profile of Macugen (pegaptanib sodium injection), already established in data from the first year of the Vision trials, was maintained over two years of treatment with no evidence of an association with hypertension, serious hemorrhagic events or thromboembolic events, as compared to the control group. Macugen was approved in late 2004 for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration.