OKYO Pharma Limited announced that it filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the development of OK-101 to treat Neuropathic Corneal Pain (NCP).
Study enrollment is planned to commence during Q1 2024 following IND allowance by the FDA.
NCP remains a major unmet medical need for the ocular community, as there is no FDA-approved drug to treat NCP and this trial provides the opportunity to establish OK-101’s potential to treat this condition. The open-label trial will provide an opportunity to evaluate the safety and efficacy of OK-101 for NCP in a real-world clinical setting, fostering a better understanding of its potential benefits for patients.
The NCP trial will be led by Pedram Hamrah, MD, professor and vice chair of Research and Academic Programs, Co-Director of the Cornea Service and Director of the Center for Translational Ocular Immunology at Tufts Medical Center.
An ophthalmologist and a clinician-scientist, Dr. Hamrah is a leading expert in NCP and co-inventor on the OK-101 patent. He is a member of OKYO’s Scientific Advisory Board and plans to serve as Principal Investigator of the study, which will be conducted at Tufts Medical Center.
“NCP, which can exhibit as a severe, chronic or debilitating condition in patients suffering from a host of ophthalmic conditions, is presently treated by various topical and systemic treatments in an off-label fashion,” said Dr. Hamrah. “However, there are no approved commercial treatments currently available for this condition, and consequently we are looking forward to initiating the clinical trial to investigate the potential efficacy of OK-101 to treat symptoms of NCP.”
“We are excited about OK-101’s dual combination of anti-inflammatory ocular activity and NCP reducing activity and are eager to evaluate this drug to treat NCP while awaiting the top-line data for OK-101 from the ongoing Phase 2 DED trial which is planned for released in December 2023,” said Gary S. Jacob, PhD, CEO of OKYO.
About OK-101
OK-101 is a lipid conjugated chemerin peptide agonist of the ChemR23 G-protein coupled receptor which is typically found on immune cells of the eye responsible for the inflammatory response. OK-101 was developed using a membrane-anchored-peptide (MAP) technology to produce a novel long-acting drug candidate for treating dry eye disease.
OK-101 has been shown to produce anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing activities in mouse models of dry eye disease and corneal neuropathic pain, respectively, and is designed to combat washout through the inclusion of the lipid ‘anchor’ contained in the drug molecule to enhance the residence time of OK-101 within the ocular environment. OK-101 is currently in a Phase 2, multi-center, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial to treat dry eye disease.
About the OK-101 Phase 2 DED Trial Design
This phase 2, multi-center, randomized, double–blinded, placebo-controlled study is designed to enroll approximately 240 subjects with DED who are being randomly divided into 3 cohorts of 80 patients. Participants are being selected based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria.
The three cohorts include one cohort treated with placebo, a second cohort treated with 0.05% OK-101, and the third cohort receiving 0.1% OK-101. The drug and placebo, respectively, are being administered in both eyes twice daily for 12 weeks.
The duration of a patient’s treatment is approximately 14 weeks, including a 2-week run-in period, to address the placebo effect, which is common for trials involving a pain component, followed by 12 weeks of treatment. The protocol for the study includes two prespecified primary endpoints and a number of secondary endpoints. Further details regarding the specifics of the trial are posted on the clinicaltrials.gov public website (clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT05759208 or https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=Okyo&cond=Dry+Eye+Syndromes).