Do you know what your macula does? The macula, or the central portion of your retina, plays a role in your central vision; this is required for reading, facial recognition, driving, and other similar activities. When light enters the eye, it stimulates cone cells in the macula to generate electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve, where they are interpreted as vision. The macula also helps you to adjust to changes in lighting conditions and perceive contrast. In dry macular degeneration, an eye disease that causes vision loss, parts of the macula become thinner. Small deposits of protein and waste material called drusen accumulate beneath the retina, changing how the retina functions. Over time, this can lead to geographic atrophy, an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD).
Unfortunately, treatment options for geographic atrophy are limited. There are two approved treatments: Syfovre and Izervay. However, these require frequent intraocular injections and only slow disease progression rather than stopping disease progression or repairing damage caused by geographic atrophy. Additionally, these treatments may increase the risk of developing a rarer form of macular degeneration called wet AMD. This places an immense financial, physical, and psychological burden on patients.
Improving the Treatment Burden in Geographic Atrophy with Kamuvudine-8
Science-based company Inflammasome Therapeutics is working to overcome this burden through developing novel drugs designed to treat dry AMD and geographic atrophy. One of these therapies, Kamuvudine-8, is being explored in a 26-week pen-label Phase 1 study. According to insight from Inflammasome Therapeutics, the first patient was recently dosed within this study.
Inflammasome Therapeutics explains that:
As dry AMD develops…stressors activate inflammasomes in cells of the retina, which in turn cause maturation and release of the inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18. It is now recognized that inflammasome activation is a key point of convergence in the development of both [geographic atrophy] and wet AMD.
Kamuvudine-8 is described as a novel neuroprotectant molecule:
that successfully inhibit[s] inflammasome activation in cell culture and animal models. Kamuvudines are chemical derivatives of [nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors] that have the same anti-inflammasome activity than the parent molecules yet cannot undergo the same metabolism and have no detectable mitochondrial toxicity [that] have been found to be over 1,000 times less toxic than their parent molecules.
Within this study, researchers will receive a sustained release implant for slow Kamuvudine-8 release intravitreally. An estimated five individuals with geographic atrophy will enroll.
