PERTH, Australia – On the heels of positive phase IIb data, Melbourne-based Opthea Ltd. announced a private placement of AU$50 million (US$33.87 million) from institutional investors in Australia and the U.K. to advance lead candidate OPT-302 to phase III trials in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Following FDA approval of Novartis AG's VEGF-A inhibitor, Beovu, in wet age-related macular degeneration earlier this month, speculation immediately started on how much market share that new therapeutic will capture at the expense of Regeneron Pharmaceutical Inc.'s Eylea.
The first patients have been treated in Kodiak Sciences Inc.'s phase II DAZZLE trial of anti-VEGF antibody biopolymer conjugate KSI-301 in patients with treatment-naïve wet age-related macular degeneration. At least 368 patients worldwide are expected to enroll in the study. The primary endpoint will be assessed at one year and each patient will be treated and followed for two years.
Something of a duel may be shaping up between Menlo Park, Calif.-based Adverum Biotechnologies Inc. with ADVM-022, the phase I gene therapy candidate for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Regenxbio Inc., of Rockville, Md., with a similar candidate.
DUBLIN – Novartis AG gained FDA approval for its VEGF-A inhibitor Beovu (brolucizumab) in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) a week ahead of its presumed PDUFA date. The Basel, Switzerland-based pharma used a priority review voucher to speed up the review process, which kicked off on April 15. The stage is now set for what could be an eye-catching – pun intended – contest between Beovu, a single-chain antibody fragment that binds all VEGF-A isoforms, and Eylea (aflibercept), the VEGF trap that has developed into a multibillion-dollar behemoth straddling several ophthalmic indications since its original approval for treating wet AMD in November 2011.
