Genentech, a member of the Roche Group announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Vabysmo® (faricimab-svoa) 6.0 mg single-dose prefilled syringe (PFS) for use in the treatment of wet, or neovascular, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME) and macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO).
Together, these three conditions affect close to three million people in the U.S. The Vabysmo PFS will become available to U.S. retina specialists and their patients in the coming months.
“We are pleased that the U.S. FDA has approved the Vabysmo PFS for people living with wet AMD, DME and RVO, which are some of the leading causes of vision loss,” said Levi Garraway, M.D., Ph.D., Genentech’s chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development. “While many retina specialists are already using Vabysmo as a first-line treatment, this new offering should make it even simpler to administer, thereby enhancing the treatment experience for both physicians and patients.”
Vabysmo PFS delivers the same medicine as the currently available Vabysmo vials in an alternative, ready-to-use format. Vabysmo will continue to be available in a 6.0 mg vial.
Vabysmo is the first and only bispecific antibody approved for the eye and has demonstrated rapid and robust vision improvements and retinal drying in wet AMD, DME and RVO. Retinal drying is an important clinical measure, as swelling from excess fluid in the back of the eye is associated with distorted and blurred vision.
Genentech is committed to helping people access the medicines they are prescribed and offers comprehensive services for people prescribed Vabysmo to help minimize barriers to access and reimbursement.
About Vabysmo® (faricimab-svoa)
Vabysmo is the first bispecific antibody approved for the eye. It targets and inhibits two signaling pathways linked to a number of vision-threatening retinal conditions by neutralizing angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A). While research is underway to better understand the role of the Ang-2 pathway in retinal disease, Ang-2 and VEGF-A are thought to contribute to vision loss by destabilizing blood vessels, which may cause new leaky blood vessels to form and increase inflammation. By blocking pathways involving Ang-2 and VEGF-A, Vabysmo is designed to stabilize blood vessels.
Vabysmo (faricimab-svoa) is a prescription medicine given by injection into the eye, used to treat adults with neovascular (wet) age‑related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME) and macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO).
About Genentech in Ophthalmology:
Genentech is researching and developing new treatments for people living with a range of eye diseases that cause significant visual impairment and blindness, including wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), diabetic retinopathy (DR), geographic atrophy (GA) and other retinal diseases, including rare and inherited conditions.
For more information please visit http://www.gene.com.
