Roche Pharma India on Tuesday launched Vabysmo (faricimab) for the treatment of neovascular or “wet” age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME) in India. With this product, the pharma major has forayed into the Ophthalmology space. Neovascular AMD and DME are two leading causes of vision loss worldwide.
According to the company, Vabysmo is the first and only dual-pathway-inhibitor that uniquely targets and inhibits two disease pathways linked to a number of vision threatening retinal conditions.
“It neutralises both angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) which are key proteins involved in the development and progression of retinal conditions, contributing to vision loss by destabilising blood vessels in the eye. As the world’s first bispecific monoclonal antibody, Vabysmo is a single molecule designed to target and inhibit the effects of two targets, providing the benefits of two medicines in one,” the company said in a statement.
During the press briefing on Tuesday, Dr. Viraj Suvarna, Chief Medical Officer at Roche Pharma India that current treatment options target VEGF alone, and therefore only partially address the biology of the disease.
“By blocking both pathways involving Ang-2 and VEGF-A, Vabysmo offers people the first new MoA (mechanism of action) in more than 15 years for nAMD and close to a decade for DME, stabilising blood vessels in the retina and improving vision outcomes. Vabysmo has the potential to transform the existing Standard of Care (SoC) as the burden associated with currently available treatment options for nAMD and DME such as frequent eye injections (typically required every one to two months) and physician visits can lead to under treatment and less-than-optimal vision outcomes,” Dr. Suvarna explained.
According to the company, Vabysmo offers better treatment durability with patients requiring eye injections at intervals of up to once in four months, while achieving similar vision gains and anatomical improvements.
“nAMD and DME can limit a person’s ability to read, drive and recognise faces. Even simple everyday activities may become challenging as the disease progresses. Vabysmo offers the ‘Latest’ (world’s first dual pathway inhibition), ‘Fastest’ (fastest drying & effective disease control) and ‘Longest’ (extended durability up to 4 months) treatment option to patients,” Dr. Suvarna said.
The treatment regime can cost upto Rs. 4 lakhs in the first year and it can reduce to around Rs. 2 lakhs in the subsequent year, an industry source told Financial Express.com. However, the amount can vary on the basis of disease progression and other treatment options chosen by the patient, the source said.
“DME and nAMD are sight-threatening conditions that necessitate frequent hospital visits and injections, significantly impacting patients’ lives. Additionally patients greatly fear getting injected in the eye. A treatment that targets both anti-VEGF and anti-ANG-2 pathways could be transformative. Its dual mode of action offers advantages like faster drying of edema and potentially longer durability compared to current therapies. This approach has the potential to significantly improve outcomes, reduce treatment frequency, and enhance a patient’s quality of life. As retina specialists, we see this as a game changer in our field, offering new hope and possibilities for our patients battling these complex retinal diseases,” Dr. Chaitra Jayadev, Head of Vitreoretina Services at Narayana Nethralaya Eye Institute, said during the press conference.
Preventable and treatable vision loss is a growing global public health concern. A staggering 1 billion people live with vision impairment worldwide that could have been prevented. Retinal conditions are now affecting more people than ever before. More than ~300 million patients globally and ~11 million patients in India suffer from retinal vision loss. India is home to one-third of the blind population of the world. Furthermore, in India, the prevalence of nAMD and DME stands at approximately 4 million.
Vabysmo (faricimab) was first approved by the USFDA in January 2022. It is today available in more than 90 countries and more than 2 million doses have been administered till date.
