Eyebiotech Limited (EyeBio) announced the release of its lead product candidate, designed to treat retinal diseases characterized by vascular leakage utilizing intravitreal injection.
Talk about the company first.
Founded in 2021, the UK-based EyeBio is a privately-held ophthalmology biotechnology company focused on developing advanced therapies for eye diseases.
Now tell me about Restoret.
Restoret (EYE103) is a tetravalent, tri-specific antibody that behaves as an agonist of the Wingless-related integration site (Wnt) signaling pathway, which is part of a group of signal transduction pathways beginning with proteins that pass signals into a cell through cell surface receptors.
Why is the Wnt pathway important?
Recent research has uncovered that Wnt genes code for proteins that are responsible for the normal development and maintenance of blood-retinal barrier (BRB).
Further, the signaling of Wnt is now known to have a key role in vascular integrity maintenance and vascular retinal leakage (due to defects).
So how does Restoret work?
The antibody is delivered via intravitreal injections for retinal vascular diseases with leakage, such as wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), and familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR).
Restoret works to remove the leakage in the retinal diseases by forcing the Wnt pathway to restore and maintain the BRB.
Significance?
Through its activation of the Wnt pathway, Restoret has the potential to fulfill unmet medical needs in patients with DME and wet AMD.
What’s next?
EyeBio expects to file for clinical trial authorizations to launch a global phase 1b/2 clinical trial for Restoret, likely in Q2 2023.
Anything else?
The company also reported the in-licensing of a second bispecific agonist antibody asset for retinal disease treatment that features an independent and complementary mechanism of action from Restoret.
