Positive 2-year Visudyne data

QLT PhotoTherapeutics (TSE:QLT; QLTI) and partner Ciba Vision announced that the therapeutic effect of their Visudyne verteporfin photodynamic therapy to treat the classic form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) was sustained over two years. In August, the companies filed for FDA approval based on one-year data, and they received an approvable letter last month. The product is approved in Switzerland. QLTI was down $2.50 to $55 on Tuesday.

In the 242 patients with the classic form of AMD, 59.1 percent of patients on Visudyne lost less than 3 lines of vision on a standard eye chart at 24 months versus 31.3 percent of patients on placebo(p<0.001). The percentage of treated patients that experienced an improvement in vision remained at 13 percent at 24 months. Treated patients also had significantly slower lesion growth, reduced leakage and stable contrast sensitivity. The average number of treatments required in the second year decreased from 3.4 to 2.1, for a total of 5.5 treatments over 2 years. ...