Roche starts late-stage trial for eye drug lampalizumab

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche said on Monday it had started late-stage trials for its experimental drug lampalizumab as a treatment for a serious eye disease. The Basel-based firm has initiated Phase III trials for lampalizumab as a treatment for geographic atrophy, a leading cause of blindness in adults over 55, which gradually causes vision loss in the macula, making it harder to read, drive and recognise people's faces. (Reporting by Caroline Copley)