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Kellogg Clinician-Scientist Develops Adjunct Therapy for Retinal Detachment Repair
PHASE II CLINICAL TRIAL UNDERWAY
Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD), the most common form of retinal detachment, is an acute, visionthreatening condition in which the retina separates from the wall of the eye. While RRD can result from trauma or severe nearsightedness, it is most often a due to agerelated changes in the vitreous (the gel-like substance between the lens and the retina). These changes can create a tear in the retina, allowing the vitreous to seep under the light-sensitive photoreceptor (PR) layer of the retina. This separates it from its chief source of nutrition, the retinal pigment epithelium.
“RRD initiates a complex set of events within the PRs, which, if the detachment is left untreated, eventually leads to cell death and vision loss. But the RRD does not send a pain signal to indicate an emergency. Instead, the first symptoms are more subtle, like seeing floaters or flashes of light, followed by a loss of sight that begins in the side, or peripheral, vision, and spreads to the center.
Timely diagnosis and surgical repair (the standard of care) provide the best chance to preserve vision.
Kellogg retinal surgeon and clinical researcher David Zacks, M.D., Ph.D., has performed countless RRD repair procedures. “In too many cases, precious time is lost between noticing symptoms and confirming a diagnosis, and between diagnosis and surgery,” he explains. “We need proven tools to minimize the damage that occurs before surgery.”
As co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ONL Therapeutics, Dr. Zacks has developed such a tool— ONL1204. Used in conjunction with surgery, ONL1204 is solution that is injected into the vitreous to block the molecular pathways responsible for cell death in RRD.
Following a Phase IB clinical trial that confirmed its safety, a Phase II clinical trial of ONL1204 was undertaken. “This trial evaluated two alternative dosages, and determined the optimal timing for administering the treatment,” he explains.
“In addition to testing ONL1204 in RRD, Phase I trials have also been completed using the drug to prevent retinal cell death in two other blinding diseases—open-angle glaucoma and geographic atrophy secondary to macular degeneration, for which a Phase II trial will soon begin.
“In each of these trials, we’ve seen strong evidence that ONL1204 can prevent cell death in the retina,” Dr. Zacks says. “It’s an exciting advance with great potential as a therapeutic platform for retinal neuroprotection.”
