Stockwatch: Regeneron Failure Could Hurt Rivals More

For some time there has been an underlying debate on whether the efficacy of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibition in the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can be enhanced by the simultaneous inhibition of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). At the end of last week that debate exploded into a frenzy of attack, parry and defense as supporters of companies on both sides of the divide positioned themselves after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported the results of its CAPELLA Phase II clinical trial.

Regeneron reported the failure of the co-formulation of its anti-PDGF monoclonal antibody rinucumab and its approved anti-VEGF recombinant peptide Eylea (aflibercept) to show an improvement over Eylea alone in 505 treatment-naive patients with wet AMD over 12 weeks of treatment. Fueling the debate further was the result that Eylea alone performed better than the combination – an ironic echo of the non-linear more-is-not-necessarily-better dose-response seen with Avastin (bevacizumab) in some cancer indications