ZURICH: Novartis's anti-blindness medicine Beovu has become the latest eye drug to win U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, giving the Swiss drugmaker a boost in the increasingly competitive market for eye problems among an ageing population.
More rivals are coming. Roche has a refillable Lucentis"port" implant as well as its drug candidate faricimab. Allergan and Swiss-based Molecular Partners have filed with U.S. and European regulators for abicipar. Lucentis and Eylea copycats are waiting in the wings for patent expirations. "The market for AMD is growing strongly as a consequence of an ageing population and lacking preventative procedures and is currently worth around US$9 billion annually," Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst Michael Nawrath said."In the next 10 years, the market is expected to double in size."Beovu's list price is around US$11,100 for the first year and US$7,400 annually thereafter when injected by an eye doctor every three months, a level Novartis says is comparable to Eylea.
Eylea is also approved for quarterly dosing, though that is not as effective as once every two months, based on instructions to doctors on how to use it.