Clinical Trials Failure Will Prevent Novartis from Increasing Sales

On Monday, December 12, Novartis announced unsuccessful results from clinical trials of a combination of the drugs Lucentis and Fovista for treating patients with the neovascular form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). According to the data obtained, the use of the drug combination did not lead to better results than using Lucentis alone. This will prevent the company from boosting the falling sales of Lucentis, which are declining due to competition.

Sales of Lucentis outside the U.S. began to decline in 2015, and in the first nine months of 2016, they fell by 11% under pressure from competitors, such as the American company Regeneron with its drug Eylea.

In 2014, Novartis signed an agreement with the American company Ophthotech, under which it was to obtain the rights to sell Fovista outside the U.S. Novartis had hoped that the use of the Fovista and Lucentis combination would prove successful, helping to compensate for the decline in sales of Lucentis alone, associated with the emergence of other similar drugs.

"The proven efficacy of Lucentis monotherapy was not enhanced by the addition of Fovista," said Vas Narasimhan, Head of Novartis Drug Development. "Together with Ophthotech, we are analyzing the obtained data."

The unsuccessful results of the Fovista and Lucentis combination will also affect Roche, which holds the rights to sell Lucentis in the U.S. and was to share revenue from the sale of Fovista outside the U.S. with Novartis.

Novartis now must pin its hopes on the success of a separate Phase III clinical trial of the drug RTH258, also intended for the treatment of the neovascular form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The results of the study will be published in early 2017.

Up to 25 million people worldwide suffer from the neovascular form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This disease is the leading cause of premature blindness in developing countries.

Novartis AG is a Swiss pharmaceutical company created in 1996 through the merger of Swiss companies Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz. Novartis specializes in prescription drugs used in oncology, neurology, psychiatry, and transplantology. The company's revenue in 2015 was $49.4 billion, with a profit of $17.8 billion.