Positive new data for Novartis drug Lucentis across four indications

Swiss drug major Novartis (NOVN: VX) has presented new clinical and real world data for its ophthalmic agent Lucentis (ranibizumab) in more than 40 abstracts at this week's 13th European Society of Retina Specialists (EURETINA) congress, confirming the drug’s transformational and well-established safety profile in four retinal diseases.

Lucentis was first launched in Europe in 2007 and is now indicated in many countries for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), for visual impairment due to diabetic macular edema (DME), macular edema secondary to branch- and central-retinal vein occlusion (BRVO and CRVO), and choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia (myopic CNV). Lucentis generated first-quarter 2013 sales of $596 million for Novartis.

Timothy Wright, global head of development at Novartis, said: “The abundance and quality of new data presented at EURETINA, in addition to the real-world long-term experience with Lucentis, speak to the importance of this anti-VEGF treatment for providing vision gains to patients and affirms its role as the standard of care in retinal medicine. Further to its transformational patient outcomes in wet AMD, DME, and RVO, Lucentis has now established its superior efficacy in myopic CNV compared with verteporfin photodynamic therapy as well.”