FDA Advisors Recommend Approval of Regeneron Eye Drug

The expert panel voted unanimously that the treatment should be approved to treat a neurovascular form of age-related macular degeneration.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has passed a key test at an FDA advisory committee meeting on its experimental eye drug. The expert panel voted unanimously that the treatment, called VEGF Trap-Eye, should be approved to treat a neurovascular form of age-related macular degeneration.

The panel recommended approval of the drug--which the company plans to sell under the name Eylea--with a dosing schedule of 2 milligrams every 8 weeks after three initial doses every four weeks, according to Regeneron. The ability to provide the drug in convenient doses is expected to be a key factor in the drug's success on the market, where it would face competition from Roche's blockbuster eye drug Lucentis if approved.

The FDA is expected to decide whether to approve the treatment for we