Replies to post #109359 on Biotech Values

[jbog]

biomaven,

When were talking about pricing of these drugs, I recall the UK unit (NICE) approving Lucentis for their population.

The problem was that while most patient have MD if both eyes the UK authorities only approved the drug to be used in one eye.

[mouton29]

<< I am sure injections into the eye cannot be pleasant, aside from the cost and hassle of 12 trips a year to the doctor instead of 6. >>

Having had more than my share of eye injections, "not pleasant" is a good description. Which is to say, it is not fun, but it is not as bad as you might imagine.

[drbio45]

the doctor is incentivised to treat patients monthly

[DewDiligence]

Lucentis does not require twice as many injections as VEGF-Trap-Eye. In the real world (as opposed to clinical trials), Lucentis patients receive 7-8 injections per year on average, while patents in the bimonthly-dosing arm of the VEGF-Trap-Eye trials received 7 injections during the first year because they were dosed monthly during the initial 3-month loading period.

So, all told, there is hardly any difference between the frequency of injections for the two drugs.

REGN management is not saying that VEGF-Trap-Eye will allow fewer injections than Lucentis, but rather that it will allow fewer doctor visits because patients on VEGF-Trap-Eye supposedly do not have to be monitored every month. I think this is an inconsequential benefit, and it may not be a medical benefit at all insofar as patients undergoing drug treatment for wet AMD probably should be seen by a doctor every month, at least during the first year of treatment.

I predict that VEGF-Trap-Eye will be a commercial bust because it’s not clearly better than Lucentis, it will be much more expensive than Avastin, and it lacks the long-term safety data of either comparator.

[masterlongevity]

im not sure if the cheaper drug does does require more frequent injections. there are plenty of small trials with avastin that show dosing every other month is pretty effective. VEGF-trap is better than i thought it would be, but i don't expect it to cross the blockbuster status due to avastin.