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 ^[1] the release.