Bevasiranib goes up against Lucentis

Opko Health has initiated the Phase III COBALT (Combining Bevasiranib And Lucentis Therapy) clinical trial of bevasiranib for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The multinational trial aims to enrol more than 330 wet AMD patients and will assess whether bevasiranib, administered every eight or 12 weeks, is safe and whether it has equivalent efficacy to Lucentis (ranibizumab; Novartis), in preventing vision loss.

Bevasiranib is a first-in-class small interfering RNA (siRNA) drug designed to silence the genes that produce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). It is the first therapy, based on the Nobel Prize-winning RNA interference technology, to advance to Phase III clinical trials.