The following transcript has been edited for clarity. 

Hi, I'm Diana V. Do, MD, at Retinal Physician. I had the pleasure of providing updated data on tiespectus (MK-8748; Merck) and the phase 2 clinical trial in treatment-naïve eyes with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Tiespectus is a novel bispecific that blocks anti-VEGF and also directly activates the Tie2 pathway. It has the potential of having more synergistic effect on reducing vascular permeability, angiogenesis, and also decreasing inflammation. In this phase 2 clinical trial involving 20 eyes with treatment-naïve AMD, 2 different doses of tiespectus, 7 mg and 10 mg, were investigated. Three initial monthly doses were given, and they were looking at the primary efficacy of mean change in visual acuity at week 12.

What happened?

In the results, we saw that tiespectus led to immediate and robust improvements in visual acuity. Eyes on average gained 5 letters at week 1, and then this improved to an average of over 7 letters by week 12. These benefits were accompanied by rapid and robust reductions in retinal thickness, leading to a reduction of over 215 µm by week 12.

In terms of safety, in this population, there were no ocular adverse events related to the drug and no serious ocular adverse events either.

A phase 3 clinical trial evaluating tiespectus is now under way, and in the future we’ll have more information about this new exciting drug development. Thank you. RP