Regeneron's Eylea snags prefilled syringe approval as Novartis rival looms

Eye med Eylea has been a blockbuster sales force for Regeneron, but Novartis’ challenger brolucizumab is on the horizon. Could a new delivery option give Eylea a leg up?

That's what Regeneron's hoping. The FDA Tuesday approved a new prefilled injector for 2-milligram single doses of Eylea to treat patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), macular edema following retinal vein occlusion, diabetic macular edema and diabetic retinopathy.

The drugmaker touted the new approval as a game-changer for physicians, taking multiple preparation steps out of the original vial dose regimen. Eylea is now the only drug approved to treat four retinal diseases with a single-dose prefilled injector, although Roche's Lucentis has two prefilled injector doses that cover all four of those indications separately. 

Regeneron is hoping the newest green light will help it secure its place as the top-performing wet AMD drug on the market as competitors loom.

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