New drug for dry AMD shows promise in trials

Allegro Ophthalmics revealed data from their phase 2a study of their drug risuteganib in treating patients with intermediate dry age-related macular degeneration. 

The 28 week study involved 39 patients with dry age-related macular degeneration. One group of participants received risuteganib while the other group received a placebo. Researchers were looking for the percentage of patients with at least an eight-letter gain in best corrected visual acuity at week 28 compared with placebo at week 12. 

The risuteganib group had 48% of patients meeting the eight-letter gain goal at the 28 week mark compared to 7.1% of patients at week 12 in the placebo group. The risuteganib group also had 20% of the participants reporting at least 15 letters improvement and another 32% of patients reported at least 10 letters of improvement.