Merck's Eye Drug Shows Promising Results Amid Safety Concerns

Merck & Co.'s eye drug remigromig has shown promising results in a late-stage trial, but safety concerns have been raised.

The company announced on Thursday that the medicine reached non-inferiority when measuring patients' visual acuity compared to those given Roche's Lucentis.

However, Merck also noted higher rates of proliferative diabetic retinopathy, bleeding inside the eye, and treatment discontinuations among those given remigromig.

The company acquired remigromig as part of its $1.3 billion takeover of privately held EyeBio two years ago.