Apellis Pharmaceuticals, a Waltham-based pharmaceutical company, saw a decline in its shares after announcing that it had received six reports of retinal vasculitis in users of its drug syfovre. The stock dropped by 25% to $39.39 on Tuesday, following a previous decline of 19% on Monday, resulting in a total decrease of 25% for the year.
Retinal vasculitis is characterized by the swelling of blood vessels in the retina and was reported in approximately 0.01% of all syfovre injections. Syfovre, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February, is used to treat geographic atrophy, a condition that leads to blindness.
Despite these incidents, Apellis emphasized that there had been no cases of retinal vasculitis during clinical trials, with 60,000 vials of syfovre already distributed. The company stated that the FDA had thoroughly reviewed each event and did not have any plans for regulatory action. However, Apellis remains committed to investigating the issue and will collaborate with the American Society of Retina Specialists Research and Safety in Therapeutics Committee.