Novartis scientists extend half-life of ocular therapies

In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers from the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research at Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) said they had developed a method to extend the half-life of therapies by three- to four-fold to treat ocular diseases. The scientists combined a hyaluronan-binding peptide with antibodies and protein therapeutics to make the long-acting molecules.

In a rabbit model, intravitreal injection of a long-acting anti-VEGF antibody (LAVA) led to a longer duration of inhibition of retinal vascular leakage compared to controls including approved drugs Lucentis ranibizumab and Eylea aflibercept. Additionally, in a primate model of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the authors showed that the LAVA led to a longer duration and greater inhibition of eye lesions compared to controls...