OcuCure Therapeutics Eye Drop Shows Efficacy in Primates for AMD
July 17, 2009
OcuCure Therapeutics, Inc. recently announced final results from primate testing of its lead compound OC-10X, which is currently under development as a topical eye drop treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Results indicated a 43 percent inhibition of ocular neovascularization in primate eyes treated with OC-10X.
OC-10X has demonstrated both antiangiogenic and angiolytic properties in animal models of AMD when administered as a topical eye drop. OC-10X is also being evaluated for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.
CNV was induced (using laser photocoagulation) in both eyes of eight primates followed by intravitreal injection of OC-10X in one eye with the other eye serving as the control. Two weeks later, a second injection was administered. Four weeks after the initial laser injury, the areas of CNV lesions were measured and the difference between the smaller CNV lesion in the OC-10X treated eyes and the larger lesions in the untreated control eyes was statistically significant (p=0.025).
Long-term OC-10X safety studies were recently presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. These showed that after long-term topical administration of six to nine months, no changes in corneal or retinal histology or function were observed. Electroretinogram studies showed that retinal function remained normal during this long- term testing. Additionally, complete blood counts, clinical blood chemistry panels, and gross necropsy indicated no evidence of major organ dysfunction.
Read the release.
- What is the Risk of Infection With Intravitreal Drug Injections Without Topical Antibiotics?
- Is Macugen Better Than Panretinal Photocoagulation for Diabetic Retinopathy?
- Ohr Pharmaceutical Announces Positive Preclinical Safety Study Results for Squalamine Eye Drop for Wet-AMD
- Is a Single Intravitreal Injection of Avastin More Effective Than Lasers in Treating Retinopathy of Prematurity?
- Combining XIBROM(TM) and Lucentis May Provide Added Efficacy Over Lucentis Alone in Treating Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Comments
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If I read your article and the press release correctly, the OC-10x was given as an intravitreal injection, caused regression and inhibition of CNV, and was then given topically after the initial injections?
How is this promising as a topical therapy?
I must be missing something. Look forward to hearing from you.
Randy
No I don’t think you are missing anything. The company says they are developing it to be a topical treatment. This studies appears to be the first step to show that the compound works. I guess the next step will be to test it topically to see if it works and has absorption.
I believe this is just the first step.
Dominique