NeoVista Presents Anatomic Outcomes of Novel Wet AMD Therapy at 2008 American Society of Retina Specialis...( MAUI Hawaii Oct. 13 /- NeoVista I...),Health

MAUI, Hawaii, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- NeoVista, Inc., presented yesterday the anatomic effects of the company's novel epiretinal brachytherapy device on choroidal neovascular lesions in an analysis at the American Society of Retina Specialist's (ASRS) 26th Annual Meeting. The 12-month data presented by David Brown, MD, F.A.C.S., of The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, demonstrated anatomic improvements on both angiography and ocular coherence tomography (OCT) in many patients treated in the ongoing pilot study. NeoVista's therapy, when delivered concomitantly with an intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agent, demonstrated a marked reduction in choroidal neovascular membrane (CNVM) size in many patients in the trial, which has not been seen in previous anti-VEGF monotherapy trials.

The current standard of care for wet AMD involves repeated monthly intravitreal injections of an anti-VEGF agent for an indefinite period of time. In contrast, NeoVista's therapy applies a targeted dose of beta radiation to the leaking blood vessels that affect central vision; concomitantly, two injections of an anti-VEGF agent are delivered one month apart to maximize the acute therapeutic response and additional anti-VEGF injections are given on a PRN basis.

"After reviewing the anatomical data outcomes from the Phase II pilot study, I believe this concomitant approach to treating wet AMD looks promising as a potential way to decrease the number of required injections necessary in the treatment of patients with neovascular AMD," said Dr. Brown. "At 12 months, many patients were fluid free on OCT with reductions in FFA lesion size despite being undertreated with the PRN anti-VEGF agents. As this biologic response seems to be observed at six to nine months after the epiretinal brachytherapy procedure, my personal opinion is that the use of more anti-VEGF therapy immediately post treatment may improve the excellent visual acuity results w
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