Kiora, a clinical-stage biotechnology company in the United States, has enrolled the first patient as part of a Phase 2 study evaluating KIO-201 topical eye drops in patients with persistent corneal epithelial defect (PCED), a rare ocular surface condition characterised by non-healing wounds on the eye surface. This can be due to a variety of factors including physical trauma, surgical injury, infections, or inflammatory ocular diseases.
KIO-201, a chemically modified form of the natural polymer hyaluronic acid, is designed to accelerate corneal wound healing.
“We believe KIO-201 has the potential to address a rare ophthalmic condition in patients who have limited effective treatment options,” said Brian M. Strem, Ph.D., President and CEO of Kiora. “Our KIO-201 asset has an extensive portfolio of clinical data demonstrating its ability to improve healing in difficult-to- treat corneal wounds. Promising results from this study will support our efforts to advance KIO-201 to a potential registration study.”
The trial is designed as a singlearm, open label ten patient (up to 20 eyes) study. Patients will be evaluated at 28 days after receiving KIO-201 six times daily.
KIO-201 is formulated as an eye drop and provides a thin coating to the surface of the eye, serving as a protectant to facilitate and accelerate corneal re-epithelisation. According to Kiora, the chemical modifications enable enhanced viscoelastic properties and a longer ocular surface resonance time compared to standard hyaluronic acid.
