PolyActiva is collaborating with RareSight, Inc. to develop targeted therapeutics specifically designed for rare pediatric retinal diseases with no currently-approved treatments.
First, a look at RareSight.
This ophthalmic-based life sciences company is focused on accelerating the diagnosis of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs).
How: Via an artificial intelligence (AI)-based support tool that offers earlier disease recognition based on integration with biomedical data and clinical patterns.
- Importantly: This solution works within a clinician’s workflow by using structured and unstructured patient data to detect rare disease signals.
Interesting … now to PolyActiva.
PolyActiva is a clinical-stage ophthalmology company with a portfolio of investigational, next-generation ocular implants.
Intended for use as “safe and effective, fully biodegradable” therapies for a wide range of ocular diseases, these implants include:
- Latanoprost acid ocular implant (PA5108) for intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction caused by open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and ocular hypertension (OHT)
- Lead asset and new chemical entity (more on that later) designed for sustained IOP control up to 6 months with repeat dosing; currently undergoing phase 2b evaluation
- Levofloxacin ocular implant for reducing the risk of endophthalmitis following ocular (cataract) surgery
The purpose: To eliminate the need for daily eye drops.
And what technology are these implants based on?
That would be the company’s proprietary drug delivery platform, dubbed PREZIA.
What it does: Utilizes covalent bonding to attach therapeutic agents to a polymer— allowing for a precise, consistent, and fully customizable drug release over extended periods of time (think: 1 week to 1 year or more).
A couple of notes:
- Thanks to rapid biodegradation, the implant administration process can be repeated
- The technology enables single or multiple drug combinations tailored to a clinical indication
- Its adaptability also allows for therapies to be formulated as rod-shaped implants, injectable gels, or topical film
Check out a visual of this in action.
Now to this collaboration.
The companies’ agreement will reportedly utilize the PREZIA platform to provide “first-of-its-kind, new chemical entity (NCE)-eligible drug candidates” for patients with blinding ocular conditions.
To note: An NCE refers to a novel drug compound containing no active moiety (a molecule or ion responsible for a drug’s actions) that has previously received FDA approval
- This differs from the re-use of an existing drug for a different disease, a re-formulation of an existing drug, or a novel combination of existing drugs
So what do we know about these NCE-eligible drugs?
They'll be designed for intravitreal (IVT) administration as sustained-release, zero-order treatments intended directly for the retina (targeting IRDs).
Importantly, the companies emphasized that this approach will not require patient administration—a component described as “a key benefit for children and their caregivers.”
- The intent, as RareSight CEO and founder Carmen Caricchio noted, is advancing “a new class of long-acting pharmacologic therapies to address early-onset vision loss.”
Nice! And what’s the timeframe for the drugs’ clinical development?
Excellent question. The companies have not yet released details on when we can expect details on this—nor the specific IRD that will be focused on.
As always, stay tuned!