Roche’s Lampalizumab Receives Positive Phase II Results for AMD
Roche have posted positive clinical trial Phase II results for lampalizumab when treating age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The clinical trial demonstrated that patients with the dry form of AMD had a 20% reduction in geographic atrophy after 18 months’ treatment.
Geographic atrophy is an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration which irreversibly progresses to blindness. Geographic atrophy is where cells in the epithelial lining of the retina start to degenerate with a knock-on effect on rod and cone cells.
In a subgroup of patients who were identified as being susceptible to faster decline using biomarkers, the geographic atrophy progression rate was decreased by 44% at 18 months with a monthly injection of lampalizumab into the eye, with a 54% decline in those whose vision was less impaired at enrolment.
Roche already has Lucentis (ranibizumab) in its portfolio for the wet form of AMD, which it sells in the US while Novartis has marketing rights elsewhere in the world.
It is anticipated that lampalizumab could have even greater potential than Lucentis, which has already been very successful itself, given that the dry form of AMD accounts for around 85% of all cases and affects roughly 8 million people globally.
“The phase II results are encouraging for patients with geographic atrophy, a major vision-impairing disease where there is a great need for treatment options,” commented Richard Scheller, the head of Genentech Research and Early Development.
“We are continuing to investigate our emerging biomarker strategy to identify people who would be appropriate candidates for treatment with lampalizumab,” he added.
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