Developed by QLT’s wholly owned subsidiary, QLT USA, Inc., Eligard® formulations are approved in eight countries for the palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

Photo of the Eligard product line. Eligard is a leuprolide acetate product—a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist. Sustained levels of leuprolide decrease testosterone levels to inhibit tumor growth in patients with hormone-responsive prostate cancer. Using QLT’s own unique drug delivery mechanism, Atrigel®, Eligard is injected into the body subcutaneously as a liquid, where it solidifies and delivers a dose of leuprolide acetate at a controlled rate for the specified therapeutic period of time.

There are about 220,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. each year. The worldwide market is over $1.5 billion, of which $800 million is in the U.S.

ELIGARD - A Hormonal Therapy for Prostate Cancer

ELIGARD is a prescription medication for the palliative treatment (management of symptoms) of advanced prostate cancer. ELIGARD is an LHRH (luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone) agonist. It is designed to reduce the amount of testosterone in the body by reducing the testicles’ production of testosterone. It is not a cure for advanced prostate cancer.

ELIGARD is now available in 4 different prescription doses, giving you and your physician flexible dosing options for treating your advanced prostate cancer. The ELIGARD 45 mg shot, the newest addition to the ELIGARD family, is the first and only 6-month hormone therapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. ELIGARD 45 mg gives you the benefit of a full year of hormone therapy with just 2 injections. Ask you doctor about twice-yearly ELIGARD.

How It Works on Advanced Prostate Cancer
ELIGARD is an LHRH agonist. Male hormones, such as testosterone, stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. The goal of hormonal therapy for advanced prostate cancer is to lower the body’s level of male hormones and thereby shrink or slow down the growth of prostate tumors. Most of the body’s testosterone is made by the testicles; ELIGARD prevents the testicles from producing testosterone.

As with other LHRH agonists, the first shot of ELIGARD will make testosterone levels rise temporarily. However, within 2 to 4 weeks, the ELIGARD shot causes testosterone levels to fall. In most cases, the level of testosterone that results from ELIGARD is the same level or lower than that achieved by surgical castration.

Visudyne® (verteporfin) was the first therapeutic treatment approved worldwide for certain forms of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 55.

Visudyne is commercially available in more than 75 countries for the treatment of predominantly classic subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and in a number of countries for occult subfoveal CNV caused by AMD. Visudyne is reimbursed in the United States by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for certain patients with the occult and minimally classic forms of wet AMD. It is also approved in over 60 countries, including the European Union, the U.S. and Canada, for the treatment of subfoveal CNV due to other macular diseases such as minimally classic AMD, pathologic myopia (severe near-sightedness) and ocular histoplasmosis.

Recently, alternative treatments for wet AMD with different modes of action have been approved or used. We expect that Visudyne will maintain its niche in the AMD marketplace and we believe that it will continue to be used in combination with other treatment options for certain forms of AMD.

Visudyne is developed and commercialized by QLT Inc. with Novartis Ophthalmics.

VISUDYNE PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS, IDEAL FOR TREATING OCULAR DISEASES
* Photosensitizer that exhibits no activity until activated by light at a wavelength of 690 nanometers
* Rapid and selective uptake by the walls of the abnormal blood vessels in the eye results in a very short treatment procedure
* Short half life and fast clearance eliminates need for long photosensitivity precautions commonly associated with first-generation photosensitizers

How Visudyne works?

The objective of Visudyne® therapy is to slow or arrest the progression of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), pathologic myopia and presumed ocular histoplasmosis. It does not restore or improve vision in eyes that have already been significantly damaged by these diseases.

Administering Visudyne Therapy

Visudyne therapy is easy to administer and can be done in the physician’s office.

Step №1: Visudyne is injected into the patient’s arm over a period of ten minutes.     Visudyne is injected into the patient’s arm over a period of ten minutes.
Step №2: In the bloodstream, Visudyne attaches to lipoproteins which selectively carry the drug to abnormal vessels in the eye.     In the bloodstream, Visudyne attaches to lipoproteins which selectively carry the drug to abnormal vessels in the eye.
Step №3: Five minutes after the infusion, Visudyne is activated by shining a red, non-thermal laser light into the patient’s eye for 83 seconds.     Five minutes after the infusion, Visudyne is activated by shining a red, non-thermal laser light into the patient’s eye for 83 seconds.
Step №4: Once Visudyne is activated, the abnormal blood vessel cells are destroyed by the release of singlet oxygen, resulting in closure of the abnormal vessels and cessation of leakage.     Once Visudyne is activated, the abnormal blood vessel cells are destroyed by the release of singlet oxygen, resulting in closure of the abnormal vessels and cessation of leakage.

Lasers

Visudyne therapy involves the use of a specially designed diode laser that produces the low level, non-thermal (non-burning) light required to activate the drug. These lasers have been developed by two of the world’s leading laser companies, Lumenis, based in California, and Carl Zeiss, based in Germany.