Australian biopharmaceutical company Opthea has announced positive clinical data for novel therapies developed to treat highly prevalent and progressive retinal diseases.
The data was presented on 1 May at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2022 Annual Meeting by Dr Jason Slakter, MD, Clinical Professor, Department of Ophthalmology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
The ARVO poster presented results of a prespecified subgroup analysis of subjects with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV type CNV) enrolled in the Phase 2b randomised, sham-controlled study of patients with treatment naive exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In this study, subjects received either monotherapy with ranibizumab (Lucentis) or combination therapy with ranibizumab and one of two doses of OPT- 302. Of the 366 participants, 66 (18%) were identified as having PCV lesions at baseline based on multimodal imaging analysis of colour fundus photography, fluorescein angiography and SD-OCT.
OPT-302 (2.0 mg), used in combination with ranibizumab (0.5 mg), achieved superior visual acuity gains and anatomic improvements compared to monthly ranibizumab monotherapy in these subjects with PCV type CNV. Specifically, following OPT-302 combination therapy over the six months of the study: an additional 6.7 letter gain was achieved over ranibizumab monotherapy, a greater proportion of patients gained ≥ 10 and ≥15 letters from baseline, or achieved 20/40 vision or better, while fewer participants lost 5 letters or more of vision.
Dr Megan Baldwin, Chief Executive Officer of Opthea, said, “We have received positive feedback on the potential utility of OPT-302 combination therapy for patients with PCV lesions and we look forward to evaluating additional data which is being obtained from the ongoing OPT-302 Phase 3 ShORe and COAST trials, which are expected to enrol a significant number of treatment naïve patients with PCV”.
A copy of the poster is available on the presentations page at www.opthea.com.
