Apellis' Pegcetacoplan Showed Continuous, Meaningful Effects At Month 18 In Geographic Atrophy Studies

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc APLS announced longer-term data from the Phase 3 DERBY and OAKS studies, which showed that intravitreal pegcetacoplan continued to reduce geographic atrophy (GA) lesion growth.
These data will be included in the U.S. marketing application that the Company plans to submit in Q2 of 2022.
In the OAKS study, pegcetacoplan reduced GA lesion growth with both monthly (22%) and every other month treatment (16%), and in the DERBY study, the percentages stood at 13% and 12%, respectively.
Also See: Apellis - Sobi's Pegcetacoplan Wins European Approval For Rare Blood Disorder.
Pegcetacoplan demonstrated marked improvements in DERBY during months 6-12 with reductions of 17% with monthly and 16% with every-other-month treatment compared to months 0-6, and the treatment effects were sustained through month 18.
The treatment effects observed in DERBY were comparable with OAKS during months 6-18.
Data at 18 months from the combined studies show the potential for improving treatment effects with pegcetacoplan over time.
The rate of infectious endophthalmitis was 0.044% per injection, and the rate of intraocular inflammation was 0.23% per injection.
Price Action: APLS shares are up 15.20% at $46.13 during the market session on the last check Wednesday.