Summary

Othera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced positive interim data results from its Phase 2 trial of OT-551 in treating geographic atrophy (GA) in dry AMD. OT-551 is a topically-dosed, patented small molecule that acts on oxidative stress and disease-induced inflammation. The 12-month findings from the two-year trial suggest an emerging trend for reducing moderate vision loss in 137 patients with GA who were treated with OT-551 compared with placebo.

Analysis


This topical eye drop for dry AMD is exciting for two reasons:

1) There are no treatments for treating Geographic Atrophy.  The AREDs vitamins supplement are effective at preventing choroidal neovascularization but not geographic atrophy.  The promising Phase II results would address a large unmet need in Macular Degeneration.  All of the recent work has been on wet AMD.

2) It also shows that a topical formulation could be effective in treating posterior segment/retinal diseases.  Dry AMD is a huge area where are not many treatments available.  A topical formulation could be a blockbluster.

The actual results will be released in a few weeks at the ARVO meeting.  It will be interesting to see what they show.

Rahul Khurana consults with leading institutions through GLG

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Clinical Instructor of Ophthalmology , UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO

 
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.