Visus Therapeutics is coming for AbbVie. After ceding a big head start to AbbVie’s recently approved Vuity, Visus has posted midphase data that advance its effort to come from behind in the new market for medicines to treat age-related long-sightedness.
AbbVie, working through its Allergan unit, is already on the market, and Eyenovia has phase 3 data on its rival candidate. Visus’ eye drop is further back, but the phase 2 data point to the potential for it to deliver a differentiated candidate. Notably, the midphase results provide early evidence in support of Visus’ framing of brimochol as a longer-lasting treatment.
The phase 2 trial studied three topical ophthalmic formulations of carbachol and brimonidine. Visus found all three prospects caused some people to experience three lines of improvement in binocular near visual acuity without losing one line of distance vision.
At one hour, the minimum responder rate was 83%. Nine hours after treatment, at least 35% of people in each arm met the responder criteria. AbbVie brought Vuity to market after linking the drug to a 42% response rate at Hour one, which fell to 11% by Hour eight and 8% at Hour 10.
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“These positive results provide further confidence that we are well positioned to bring to market the longest-lasting eye drop in the presbyopia category, which would be a meaningful breakthrough treatment for these individuals,” Rhett Schiffman, M.D., co-founder and chief medical officer at Visus, said in a statement.
The lack of control data and the potential unreliability of cross-trial comparisons leave scope to question how brimochol will ultimately hold up against its rivals, but Visus has seen enough to take the candidate forward. Pivotal phase 3 trials are set to start shortly.