Double Shot Gives Spark Therapeutics a Jolt

Double Shot Gives Spark Therapeutics a Jolt

Spark Therapeutics is riding a double shot of positive news about its gene therapy treatment for RPE65-mediated inherited retinal disorders that’s given its stock a boost, pushing it near an all-time high. The first shot came when The Lancet published Phase III clinical trial data of voretigene neparvovec, the investigational, potential one-time gene therapy candidate…

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Inotek May Be for Sale, But Who Will Buy?

Inotek May Be for Sale, But Who Will Buy?

With another failed trial of its glaucoma candidate trabodenoson in hand, Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp. is pondering options that could include selling the company, but finding a buyer could be difficult. The dominoes started to fall in January, when Inotek reported that the trial of monotherapy trabodenoson did not achieve the results it was looking for.…

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AGTC Makes Moves with Cash in Hand

AGTC Makes Moves with Cash in Hand

As Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC) heads into the summer with encouraging results for two of its lead candidates using the adeno-associated virus-based gene technology for treatment of X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS) and achromatopsia, the company finds itself well positioned to fund the programs along with five others it has in the works as its cash…

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Is AMD Drug-Treatment Landscape Shifting?

Is AMD Drug-Treatment Landscape Shifting?

When Novartis last week announced positive outcomes from two Phase III trials for new age-related macular degeneration (AMD) drug brolucizumab (RTH258), it seemed the other two major players in the AMD space – Regeneron and Roche – might lose some of their luster. But Regeneron’s stock kept gaining ground despite the potential threat of four-times-a-year…

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With Positive Phase I/IIa, Opthea Looks to Next Step

With Positive Phase I/IIa, Opthea Looks to Next Step

Coming off word that the Phase I/IIa clinical trial of its novel anti-VEGF candidate for treatment of age-related macular degeneration exceeded expectations, along with positive regulatory agency feedback and a new round of fundraising, Australia-based Opthea is looking to expand its Phase IIb trial and explore the application of its lead candidate in other ocular…

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Gottlieb Brings VC Toolkit to FDA

Gottlieb Brings VC Toolkit to FDA

Soon-to-be FDA commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, MD, is well positioned to understand where the medtech and biotech communities are coming from. He’s been a partner at the venture capital fund New Enterprise Associates since he left the FDA in 2007, where he served as deputy FDA commissioner under President George W. Bush, and performed a stint…

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AXIM Rolls Medical Marijuana Ball in Ophthalmology

AXIM Rolls Medical Marijuana Ball in Ophthalmology

Medical marijuana has quickly gained acceptance as a viable treatment for a variety of health conditions, such as the side effects of chemotherapy, the neurodegenerative effects of Alzheimer’s disease, certain seizures and chronic pain without the addictive effects of opioids. But in ophthalmology, medical marijuana has encountered the headwinds of controversy. The American Glaucoma Society…

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How Regeneron Aims to Stay on Message With VR/AR APP

How Regeneron Aims to Stay on Message with VR/AR App

Virtual reality has been used to train surgeons, to evaluate balance control and associated fall risk in glaucoma patients, and, more recently, to create simulations that allow users to better understand the visual effects of various eye diseases. To the latter, Regeneron and Intouch Solutions have developed and released the In My Eyes smartphone app.…

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Clearside Goes All in for CLS-TA

Clearside Goes All In for CLS-TA

Late last year, when developers of agents that combined anti-platelet derived growth factor with an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-PDGF/anti-VEGF) to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) disclosed disappointing trial results, Daniel White, president and CEO of Clearside Biomedical, took notice. At the time, Clearside had just raised $20 million. The Alpharetta, GA, biotech was…

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Encore Vision Delivers Big Payday to Angel Investors

Big winners in Novartis AG’s acquisition of Encore Vision for $465 million are members of a network of angel investors in Fort Worth, TX, that bet $4 million on the presbyopia-correcting eye drop that Encore Vision president and CEO Bill Burns has been working on for about nine years. The $4 million the Cowtown Angels…

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Is Trump Opening New Front in War on Drug Prices?

Pharma executives were beaming as their stock prices soared in the days after Donald Trump’s poll-defying victory, and their sentiments rose even higher with the defeat of a California ballot initiative that would have instituted price controls on state-purchased drugs. Then Trump held his first post-election press conference last week, saying that pharma was “getting…

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After Phase III Disappoints, Inotek Looks to Fixed-Dose Combination

After Phase III Disappoints, Inotek Looks to Fixed-Dose Combination - Eye On Innovation - OIS

As Inotek Pharmaceuticals sifts through the disappointing Phase III top-line results for its lead clinical candidate trabodenoson and the 66% stock price slide that followed, the biopharmaceutical company is nonetheless looking ahead to development of a fixed-dose combination of trabodenoson with latanoprost that is ahead of schedule. In a conference call with analysts the day…

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