Replies to post #76 on SurModics Inc (SRDX)

[DewDiligence]

>Novartis, I believe, has a distribution license for Lucentis outside the US.<

Actually, NVS has the rights everywhere except the U.S. and Mexico :-) (They recently licensed the Canadian rights, which DNA had originally retained.)

>Novartis will probably rather work with Posurdex than I-vation-TA<

What makes you say this? NVS would have to license Posurdex from AGN.

>But, Genentech might prefer using a platform different from that employed by Novartis to avoid further entanglements with the giant (I don't know, just guessing and hoping).<

I do not understand what you mean by this—please clarify. T.i.a. Dew

[shears]

OK, so where does Fab-anti-VEGF need to be concentrated? In the retinal tissue or inside the blood vessels in the retina? How much VEGF is actually floating around inside the vitreous to theoretically gum up the device? Does this vitreous VEGF need to be overwhelmed by an injection of lucentis so the unbound can get in or around the retinal vessels?

If VEGF is not a normal constituent of the vitreous or present in only trivial amounts then it seems to me there is an advantage to prolonged release of lucentis since the half life after ocular injections is only 3 days or so.