Novartis AG (NVS: Quote) said new data for Lucentis (ranibizumab), the only anti-VEGF therapy licensed across three ocular indications, show that individualized treatment with Lucentis provides sustained improvement in vision with a low number of injections.
In addition, Lucentis exhibited benefits in visual acuity outcomes in patients with visual impairment due to choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathological myopia. At present, Lucentis is not approved to treat this condition. Novartis noted that it will submit for regulatory approval in this indication in the European Union in the third quarter of this year and in Japan by late 2012.
Tim Wright, Global Head of Development, Novartis Pharma, commented, "Lucentis has become the standard of care in wet AMD and has helped to significantly improve vision in a majority of patients with this disease. These new data confirm that an individualized treatment approach can lead to optimal improvements in vision with a low average number of treatments, thus ensuring that patients with retinal diseases are not over- or under-treated. In addition, these data add to the well-characterized safety profile of Lucentis."
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by RTT Staff Writer
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