A New Drug For Exudative AMD?

Exudative, or wet AMD, is a blinding condition that many of our patients deal with. In fact AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world.  Wet AMD is caused by neovascularization, or new blood vessels, that grow under the macula and then "leak" into the center of the vision and create vision loss.

Currently, the standard of care for wet AMD is injections of Anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) medications.  These medications, Lucentis, Avastin, and Eylea, all work similarly in that they inhibit VEGF, a compound that encourages new blood vessel growth.  These injections are usually given monthly for 3 months and then either as needed or extended to longer intervals.  Anti-VEGF medications have been very successful in helping patients retain or even improve their vision after their AMD has become wet.

Even though we have seen great strides in vision improvement since the introduction of these medications, patients and physicians are always looking for further improvement. Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) is another component of the neovascular cascade that creates the complex in wet AMD.  It has been the source of research for several years, and now promising phase 2b data has been released.

Ophthotech is a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in the creation of medications to treat AMD.  They have recently completed phase 2b testing on Fovista.  Fovista is a PDGF-B inhibitor.  The compound inhibits the growth of the lining of the vessel walls, and with the combination of anti-VEGF was seen in lab studies to induce the regression of neovascular complexes.

In phase 2b testing of 449 patients, Fovista in combination with Lucentis was superior to Lucentis alone in terms of vision gain.  10.2 letters of vision gain was observed with combination therapy while on 6.5 letters were gained with Lucentis alone.  This represented a 62% benefit.

What does this mean for you?  Well, Fovista must now undergo Phase 3 testing before it can be presented to the FDA for approval.  Phase 3 testing involves treating larger numbers of people with the drug to insure that it does indeed continue to provide the increased benefit over Lucentis monotherapy in a larger sample of patients.  There is no information on when Phase 3 trials will begin, but our blog will keep you updated with the progress of this potentially beneficial drug.

You can read about Fovista at www.opthotech.com

This blog is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be medical advice.  Please seek the advice of a qualified medical professional.