Positive data from Eylea study in DMO-Regeneron Pharma

According to the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network comparative effectiveness study in patients with Diabetic Macular Oedema, injections of Eylea (aflibercept), from Regeneron Pharma, demonstrated a significantly greater improvement in mean change in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) from baseline at 52 weeks compared to both bevacizumab (Avastin /Genentech) and ranibizumab injection (Lucentis/Genentech), the primary endpoint of the study. The median number of injections using the protocol-specified retreatment regimen was one fewer in patients treated with Eylea compared to bevacizumab and ranibizumab.

Fewer patients in the Eylea group received criteria-based macular laser treatments than those treated with bevacizumab and ranibizumab. The rates of most ocular and systemic adverse events were similar across the three study groups. The rates of arterial thromboembolic events as defined by the Anti-Platelet Trialists' Collaboration (non-fatal stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and vascular death) in the trial were 2 percent in the Eylea group, 4 percent in the bevacizumab group and 5 percent in the ranibizumab group. There were more overall cardiovascular events in the ranibizumab group, compared to the Eylea group and the bevacizumab group; this included more cardiac events and cerebrovascular events in the ranibizumab group.