Anecortave acetate program terminated, says Alcon

Heunenberg, Switzerland-Alcon announced the termination of the development program designed to evaluate the benefit of anecorative acetate treatment on the risk for developing choroidal neovascularization secondary to age-related macular degeneration.

The decision followed an interim analysis of studies CO-02-60 A and B, performed after 2,546 patients completed the 24-month time point. It was found that anecorative acetate showed no effect on the primary or secondary endpoints.

The company also terminated two smaller studies with identical designs, being conducted in Asia, CO-04-30 and C-05-34.

Anecorative acetate is still being studied by the company as an anterior juxtascleral depot to reduce IOP in patients with open-angle glaucoma.