Novartis reports positive data from real-world Lucentis studies

Novartis has presented data from real-world analyses of its eye drug Lucentis that demonstrate the strong proven performance of the treatment in a range of indications.

In a total of 209 abstracts at the 2013 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting, the company has demonstrated the drug's efficacy in multiple indications, including wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular oedema, retinal vein occlusion and myopic choroidal neovascularisation.

Lucentis has shown itself to be a pioneering anti-VEGF ocular treatment since its approval in 2006, offering transformational efficacy, individualised treatment regimens and a well-established long-term safety profile.

It has also been associated with a lower number of injections and clinic visits than original clinical trials suggested.

Timothy Wright, global head development at Novartis Pharma, said: "Lucentis was designed to save sight and this is further demonstrated by the wealth of data in multiple disease areas reported at ARVO this week."

Lucentis was one of the company's key growth products in the first quarter of 2013, helping the firm deliver a two percent year-on-year increase in net sales during the period.