Macular degeneration drug Eylea, from Bayer AG and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., matched Roche Holding AG’s Lucentis in fewer treatments after two years for people with wet age-related macular degeneration, Bloomberg reports.
Patients on Eylea gained an average of 7.6 letters on the eye chart after 96 weeks, compared with 7.9 letters for those on Lucentis, Regeneron and Bayer said Monday in a statement to Bloomberg.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eylea last month after two studies showed that the drug, given once every two months after three initial monthly doses, improved eyesight over one year as well as Lucentis, which was given monthly. According to the latest results, patients using Eylea had fewer injections in the second year, at 4.2 on average compared with 4.7 for Lucentis.
“The study picked up the fact that, especially for the patients who needed more intense dosing, you could get by with substantially less injections with Eylea,” George Yancopoulos, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s chief scientific officer, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview. That “supports its longer duration of action,” he added.
Both treatment arms showed an average loss of 0.8 letters on the eye chart between 52 weeks and 96 weeks, showing that administering doses on an as-needed basis isn’t as effective as a fixed regimen, Yancopoulous also said.
