Apellis Pharmaceutical Inc.’s shares nosedived by 37% July 17 after the American Society of Retina Specialists wrote to ophthalmologists warning them of the risk of serious intraocular inflammation events in patients following injection of the company’s geographic atrophy drug, Syfovre (pegcetacoplan).
Tenpoint Therapeutics Ltd. raised $70 million in a series A funding round to pursue ambitious plans to reverse vision loss using both ex vivo cell engineering and in vivo cell reprogramming approaches.
As investors continue to weigh VRDN-001’s chances against Tepezza (teprotumumab, Horizon Pharmaceuticals plc) in thyroid eye disease, Viridian Therapeutics Inc. popped the lid off positive preliminary data from the ongoing phase I/II trial with the intravenous full antagonist antibody to the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor.
Astellas Pharma Inc. and 4D Molecular Therapeutics Inc. (4DMT) inked a deal worth up to $942 million under which Astellas will license 4DMT's intravitreal R100 gene therapy vector for rare ophthalmic targets.
A non-invasive retinal exam may soon enable clinicians to visualize the future for patients at risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). When combined with an artificial intelligence algorithm, an exam accurately predicted CKD prior to symptom onset in a study published in Digital Medicine.
Skyline Therapeutics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. has received FDA clearance for its IND application for a phase I/IIa trial of SKG-0106, a one-time intravitreally delivered recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). A global phase I trial will be initiated soon.
Just over a month after scoring U.S. FDA clearance for dry eye disease therapy Miebo (perfluorohexyloctane), Bausch + Lomb Corp. is adding Xiidra (lifitegrast) to its arsenal in the same indication as part of the potential $2.5 billion deal with Novartis AG, which is divesting its “front-of-eye” ophthalmology assets.
Intergalactic Therapeutics Inc. has announced promising preclinical data with IG-002, its lead program addressing all forms of ABCA4-related retinopathies. Intergalactic’s nonviral gene therapy platform is designed to overcome limitations of standard adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy technologies, including vector capacity limitations and vector-related safety concerns.