Lucentis rival one step away from NHS approval

Bayer’s Eylea (aflibercept),

lucentis, novartis

http://www.pharmatimes.com/Article/13-05-31/Lucentis_rival_one_step_away_from_NHS_approval.aspx

http://www.bioportfolio.com/news/article/1484477/Lucentis-rival-one-step-away-from-NHS-approval.html

Aflibercept is a fusion protein approved in the United States for the treatment of wet macular degeneration and metastatic colorectal cancer.

It is an inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor.It is designed to bind to VEGF-A, VEGF-B, and placental growth factor (a.k.a PIGF, gene symbol PGF)

Aflibercept is being co-developed by Sanofi-Aventis and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Ranibizumab (trade name Lucentis) is a monoclonal antibody fragment (Fab) derived from the same parent mouse antibody as bevacizumab (Avastin). It is much smaller than the parent molecule and has been affinity matured to provide stronger binding to VEGF-A. It is an anti-angiogenic that has been approved to treat the “wet” type of age-related macular degeneration (AMD, also ARMD), a common form of age-related vision loss.

Ranibizumab sells for $1,593 per dose, compared to bevacizumab, which can be prepared for macular degeneration treatment in doses that cost $42. Clinical trials have shown both to be equally effective; however there were some reports of infection after dividing bevacizumab into smaller doses.

Ranibizumab was developed by Genentech and is marketed in the United States by Genentech and elsewhere by Novartis,under the brand name Lucentis.