Positive results reported for AMD treatment

Plymouth Meeting, PA-Six patients treated with 40 mg of Genaera Corp.'s squalamine lactate (Evizon) had preserved or improved vision in both eyes suffering from wet age-related macular degeneration through a 4-month study, according to the company, which released preliminary results of a phase II clinical trial.

The multicenter, open-label trial also showed that six patients treated with 10 mg of the anti-angiogenic drug demonstrated 90% of eyes had preserved or improved vision 4 months after initiating therapy.

Among patients receiving the 40-mg dose, the greatest degree of improvement at 4 months was a gain of 18 letters on the ETDRS chart, while the greatest degree of loss was 12 letters.