Bevasiranib effective at all dose levels, study finds

PHILADELPHIA — Bevasiranib showed “clinical evidence of efficacy in the first results” from a phase 2 trial for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration, the drug’s developer said in a news release.

Acuity Pharmaceutical’s bevasiranib, formerly known as Cand5, is the first-in-class small interfering RNA designed to turn off or silence the gene that produces vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

The study, dubbed C.A.R.E., was a randomized, double-masked trial that included three dose levels of the compound. A total of 129 patients at 28 sites were included in the trial. The study focused on patients with serious disease, Acuity officials said, including those who had rapidly degenerating retinal lesions or who had failed pervious treatments. However, the study excluded patients with slow-growing occult lesions. The drug is administered directly into the eye and “does not affect the patient systemically,” the company said.

“Top-line phase 2 results show bevasiranib to be safe and well tolerated, with a dose related effect evident across multiple endpoints including near vision, lesion size and time to rescue,” Acuity officials said in the release.

“Bevasiranib … has the strong potential to be useful as a maintenance therapy, first using a VEGF antagonist to ‘mop-up’ existing VEGF and then using bevasiranib to stop further production in the eye, and it may also be an effective new therapy for wet AMD on its own,” said Lawrence Singerman, MD, a principal investigator of the drug.

The company expects to present full results at the American Society of Retinal Specialists meeting in September.