BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Avalanche slides as AVA-101 hits dead end in AMD

August 15, 2015 12:32 AM UTC

Avalanche Biotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AAVL) fell $3.82 (28%) to $10.01 on Friday after it said it will not begin a Phase IIb study this half of gene therapy AVA-101 to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), as it had previously planned.

The company based its decision on analyses of a Phase IIa study of the therapy. Avalanche shares lost more than half their value on June 16 after the company released top-line data from that study. Investors had questioned the control arm's unusually poor performance in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and an unexplained, undesirable increase in retinal thickness in the treatment group (see BioCentury Extra, June 16). ...