Novartis girds for rival Regeneron eye drug

Jon Symonds, CFO of Swiss drugmaker Novartis addresses a news conference to present the company results for 2010 in Basel January 27, 2011.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) said it considers Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc's (REGN.O) experimental eye drug a serious potential rival to its blockbuster Lucentis treatment and is gearing up for a marketing fight.

The Regeneron drug VEGF Trap-Eye, now awaiting U.S. approval, uses the same mechanism as Lucentis to preserve vision in patients with the "wet" form of age-related macular degeneration -- the leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

"VEGF Trap looks to be a good competitor," Novartis CFO Jon Symonds said in an interview on Wednesday at the Reuters Health Summit in New York.

"There's gonna be a new kid on the block and we have to take it very seriously and redouble our efforts to demonstrate why we think Lucentis is the most effective treatment," Symonds said.

Both drugs block vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) -- a protein involved in the creation of blood vessels. The condition progressively worsens as blood vessels leak fluid and blood under the retina, creating scar tissue.

VEGF Trap-Eye in clinical trials, dosed every two months, was as effective in maintaining vision as Lucentis injections given monthly, and just as safe.

"Ultimately we think our product offers a unique value proposition, offering excellent visual accuity outcomes comparable to monthly Lucentis," said Michael Aberman, vice president of strategy at Regeneron. "But in our late-stage trials patients only had to come in every other month to get their injections."

Aberman said the burden on caretakers would also be greatly reduced, with less-frequent dosing.

He declined to speculate the price of VEGF Trap-Eye, but noted that analysts assume it will be similar to Lucentis -- which costs about $2,000 an injection.

Many patients instead receive injections of Avastin, a Roche (ROG.VX) cancer drug that only costs about $50 a dose but which is not officially approved for treating macular degeneration. But doctors are allowed to use Avastin -- from which Lucentis is derived -- on a so-called "off label" basis.

In a recent government-sponsored trial, Avastin proved as effective as Lucentis for treating macular degeneration, but was associated with more side effects.

Shares of Regeneron fell as much as 10 percent on April 29, after data from the study were released, suggesting to analysts that avastin might also be a valid and cheaper alternative to VEGF Trap-Eye.

Regeneron has full marketing rights to VEGF Trap-Eye in the United States, and would share overseas profits equally with German drugmaker Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE), if the product wins regulatory approvals.

Novartis sells Lucentis outside the United States, while rival Swiss drugmaker Roche (ROG.VX) has U.S. rights. Each of the drugmakers garners about $1.5 billion in annual sales from the medicine.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Richard Chang)