Alcon releases new trial data for glaucoma drug

Alcon has released new data from its study investigating the use of anecortave acetate in reducing intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma.

Presented at the annual meeting of the American Glaucoma Society, the primacy and efficacy and safety results come from a second proof of concept clinical trial.

Nearly 90 patients with open-angle glaucoma were randomly assigned with either 7.5mg or 15mg of anecortave acetate or vehicle (placebo).

Both the 7.5mg and 15mg dosage of anecortave acetate demonstrated significantly lower intraocular pressures than vehicle at the three-month primary efficacy endpoint.

Alcon confirmed that the most frequently found adverse events were related to the procedure and included eye pain, foreign body sensation, hyperemia and blurred vision – reported at an incidence of five and 15 per cent.

Scott Krueger, Alcon’s vice-president of pharmaceutical development, highlighted that the safety and efficacy data was “encouraging” for the company

“These results, together with our recently conducted phase I safety evaluation of larger doses and injection volumes, allows us to proceed in 2008 with studies that evaluate higher doses and injection volumes in our phase II/III clinical development programme.”

Last month, Alcon’s chief executive officer Cary Rayment expressed his pleasure with the company’s financial results.