Saturday, March 28, 2015
Ohr Pharmaceutical Inc said its experimental eye drug failed the main goal in a mid-stage study as a combination therapy, wiping out two-thirds of the company's market value on Friday.
The study tested the eye-drop solution, OHR-102, in combination with Roche Holding AG's injectable eye drug Lucentis, in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the elderly.
Ohr's drug failed the study's main goal of reducing the average number of Lucentis injections per patient when used in combination with the Roche drug.
Wet AMD is characterized by the growth of new blood vessels under the retina and macula, a process known as choroidal neovascularization (CNV) that leads to a rapid deterioration in vision.
There are two forms of CNV, "classic" and "occult". The more severe "classic" version affects about two-thirds of wet-AMD sufferers.
Although a combination of OHR-102 and Lucentis improved visual clarity in about 42 percent of classic CNV patients, compared with 28 percent in the Lucentis monotherapy group, less of a benefit was seen in the overall population, the company said.
"There's no sugar coating it, the fact that the study didn't reach statistical significance ... in the overall patient population ... is disappointing to say the least," Cowen & Co analyst Tyler Van Buren said, cutting his price target on Ohr to $15 from $25.
Ohr now hopes to initiate a late-stage study in patients with classic CNV by the second half of 2015, delaying OHR-102's development by about three to six months, the company said in a conference call.
Buren expects OHR-102 to hit the U.S. market in 2019, and estimates peak sales of $1 billion.
The news of OHR-102's failure sent Ophthotech Corp's stock up about 5 percent on Friday. Ophthotech's eye injection, Fovista, is undergoing late-stage testing in combination with Lucentis for wet-AMD.
Both Ohr and Ophthotech's drugs target a protein called platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), which regulates cell growth and division.
OHR-102, however, is a solution that can be self-administered, while Fovista, like Lucentis and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc's blockbuster drug Eylea, must be injected into the eye.
Shares of Ohr, which has two other drugs in development, were down about 64 percent at $3.06.
reuters.com
