Novartis' Lucentis captures two-thirds of wet-AMD patient share in Europe

Retinal specialists in the EU5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) treat 66% of intravitreal-pharmaceutically-treated wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients with Swiss drug major Novartis’ (NOVN: VX) Lucentis (ranibizumab) and 27% of patients with Genentech/Roche’s (ROG: SIX) Avastin (bevacizumab), according to Decision Resources BioTrends’ unit new report titled TreatmentTrends: Age-Related Macular Degeneration in the EU.

This also finds that three-quarters of surveyed retinal specialists consider Lucentis to be their preferred first-line therapy for wet-AMD, with prescribing being driven by high overall satisfaction with the agent and positive perceptions across efficacy-, safety-, tolerability-, convenience- and company support-related attributes. In contrast to this preference for Lucentis in the EU5, data published in the recent parallel US report finds that, although not Food and Drug Administration-approved for the treatment of wet-AMD, Avastin is the intravitreal pharmacotherapy with the strongest first-line preference and greatest wet-AMD patient share (63%), with Lucentis capturing a 23% patient share.

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