The European Commission has granted Novartis a new indication for Lucentis (ranibizumab) to treat patients with visual impairment due to diabetic macular edema (DME) following two Novartis-sponsored clinical trials, RESTORE and RESOLVE. The trials showed that Lucentis was superior in providing rapid and sustained visual acuity gain versus placebo therapy or laser therapy, the current standard of care.
Laser therapy, the current standard of care, has provided stabilization of vision in many patients, but generally does not improve vision. Lucentis is the first licensed therapy to significantly improve both vision and vision-related quality of life in patients with visual impairment due to DME.
The RESTORE study showed patients treated with Lucentis alone or with Lucentis plus laser therapy gained an average of 6.8 letters and 6.4 letters, respectively, in visual acuity at 12 months compared to baseline, while laser-treated patients gained an average of 0.9 letters as measured on a standard ETDRS eye chart.
The RESOLVE study showed that Lucentis-treated patients gained an average of 10.3 letters in visual acuity at 12 months compared to baseline while placebo-treated patients, some of whom also received laser treatment, lost an average of 1.4 letters.
The data from RESTORE and RESOLVE studies are further supported by results of an independent US study examining Lucentis for the treatment of DME compared to standard of care. Conducted by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net), this study showed that at 12 months patients treated with Lucentis plus laser gained an average of nine letters in visual acuity compared to baseline while patients treated with laser therapy alone gained an average of three to four letters. In addition, the study demonstrated superior gains in visual acuity among Lucentis-treated patients up to two years, with a reduced number of Lucentis injections required the second year compared to the first. Specifically, there was a median of only two to three injections required in the second year of treatment compared to a median of eight to nine injections required in the first year.
