PSivida Soars On Diabetes-Linked Eye Disease Study

PSivida Corp. (PSDV, PVA.AU) said its drug to treat diabetes-related eye disease was found to be effective in eagerly awaited results of two late-stage trials.

American Depositary Shares of the company soared 62.5% premarket to $5.72. Through Tuesday, the stock had nearly quadrupled in 2009.

The two studies found that patients taking both a high dose and a low dose of Iluvien, which is inserted into the eye, had more improved vision compared with a control group receiving a "sham" insertion. In addition, both the low and high doses showed greater efficacy two years after starting treatment. PSvida had already reported positive 18-month interim results from the study in September.

The most significant adverse side effect was increased inner-eye pressure, which showed up 22% of the time with the high dose and 16% of the time with the low dose.

The drug treats diabetic macular edema, a potentially blinding eye disease affecting over 1 million people in the U.S. that currently has no treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

PSivida reiterated its partner, Alimera Sciences Inc., will file a new drug application with the FDA in the second quarter and request priority view.

-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; [e-mail]