Eye drop fails to reduce AMD treatment burden

Ohr Pharmaceutical today announced that a phase 2 study investigating a combination therapy for wet AMD failed to meet its primary endpoint of reducing the mean number of ranibizumab injections.

The nine-month trial randomized 142 patients with wet AMD to ranibizumab prn plus a twice-daily application of 0.2% squalamine lactate ophthalmic solution (OHR-102) or ranibizumab prn and twice-daily placebo eye drops.

While combination therapy didn’t reduce the treatment burden, it did appear to improve visual acuity among those with classic choroidal neovascularization.

 "Now that the full data from the phase 2 study is available,” said Dr. Jason Slakter, chief medical officer of Ohr and retina specialist at Vitreous-Retina-Macula Consultants of New York, “we are thoroughly evaluating all of the underlying factors that may have contributed to variability in patient response. These analyses will help guide and optimize the design of the phase 3 trials of OHR-102 in wet-AMD."