Lampalizumab success In Phase II study for "dry" AMD

Roche announced positive phase II results from the MAHALO study demonstrating that lampalizumab (also referred to as anti-factor D) showed a 20.4 percent reduction rate in the area of geographic atrophy at 18 months in patients with this advanced form of dry age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). MAHALO is the first study to show a beneficial treatment effect with a complement inhibitor in geographic atrophy.

In a specific sub-population of GA patients treated monthly with lampalizumab that were identified using exploratory biomarkers, the GA progression rate was decreased by 44 percent (p<0.005) at 18 months. in the subset of patients positive for the exploratory biomarkers who presented with better vision 20 50 to 20 100 progression of the ga area was reduced by 54 percent p><0.005) at 18 months when treated with monthly lampalizumab. from the patient samples collected in the mahalo study 57 percent of patients were positive for the exploratory biomarkers.>

The MAHALO phase II data also showed no unexpected or unmanageable serious adverse events associated with lampalizumab. These data were presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.