In an announcement this morning, Roche and Genentech announced that they had struck a licensing and development deal with Surmodics, Inc., for the latter’s proprietary, biodegradable microparticle drug delivery system. The companies plan on developing a sustained release delivery formulation for Lucentis to treat age-related macular degeneration.
The agreement also provides Roche and Genentech with the opportunity to develop additional compounds, using a sustained drug delivery system, for the treatment of other ophthalmic diseases.
If the new sustained release version of Lucentis provides a better mechanism for delivering this anti-VEGF drug to the retina, acting over a sustained period, it could change the number of doses required for treatment. If one long-lasting Lucentis treatment provides a better outcome than several monthly injections, the patient and doctor interaction could be drastically reduced from the current need for five or six injections per year, to possibly a single or two doses!
However, a development program of this type will probably require a full Phase 3 study and might take close to five years to reach the market.
So, for now, don’t hold your breath!
The agreement also provides Roche and Genentech with the opportunity to develop additional compounds, using a sustained drug delivery system, for the treatment of other ophthalmic diseases.
If the new sustained release version of Lucentis provides a better mechanism for delivering this anti-VEGF drug to the retina, acting over a sustained period, it could change the number of doses required for treatment. If one long-lasting Lucentis treatment provides a better outcome than several monthly injections, the patient and doctor interaction could be drastically reduced from the current need for five or six injections per year, to possibly a single or two doses!
However, a development program of this type will probably require a full Phase 3 study and might take close to five years to reach the market.
So, for now, don’t hold your breath!
No comments:
Post a Comment