Novartis to challenge Regeneron’s wet AMD market stranglehold

Phase III trials for RTH258, known as brolucizumab, saw more than half of patients only needing to receive doses once every 12 weeks, which is less frequent than the eight-week schedule typically used with Eylea.According to analyst Mr Geoffrey Porges, the success of the trial means it’s likely brolucizumab will be “highly competitive” once it hits the market.“The trials are a signal that brolucizumab would be able to gain a meaningful market share in the wet AMD segment through physician and patient preference for a less frequently administered medicine,” Porges told Investor’s Business Daily.Novartis drug development head Dr Vas Narasimhan said that brolucizumab had exceeded expectations and that the company could file for regulatory approval with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by 2018.“We had hoped to see 40% or greater of patients responding positively to injections every 12 weeks. Now that we see it well into the 52–57%, we feel very good about the result,” Narasimhan said.Novartis’ stock price jumped nearly US$4 (AU$5.27) in the days following the announcent, before correcting again to hover at around US$80 (AU$105.31) at the time of publication.A similar trial of investigational drug Abicipar by pharmaceutical company Allergan and Switzerland’s Molecular Partners is also currently underway and anticipated to reduce injection frequency for AMD.Abicipar is expected to receive regulatory approval and be released by 2018.