Associate Professor Chen in his research lab
People living with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) may one day benefit from a new drug being trialled in Australia.
PYC Therapeutics has been given approval to start a first of its kind human clinical trial testing using a new drug to treat RP11 – a common subtype of RP.
clinical trials to establish safety and optimal dose, which will begin later this year
RP affects around one in 3,500 people and almost one in 10 patients with the condition has RP11. Beginning in childhood, this degenerative eye condition leads to severe vision loss in patients at the age of 40. There are currently no treatment options aside from counselling and visual rehabilitation.
The Lions Eye Institute (LEI), alongside PYC Therapeutics has spent a number of years progressing a highly promising drug to treat RP11. Working in the Institute’s Ocular Tissue Engineering Lab, ophthalmologist Associate Professor Fred Chen (LEI), Professor Sue Fletcher, Chief Scientific Officer of PYC, and her team designed to correct the deficiency responsible for RP11, in cells derived from patients with RP.
Associate Professor Chen with the PYC team receiving the Innovator of the Year Award in 2021 for their innovative drug VP-001
Successful cell experiments provided the best proof of principal for the drug to work in humans, paving the way for clinical trials to establish safety and optimal dose, which will begin later this year.
The non-interventional trial with assessments will measure and evaluate structural and functional visual changes, including those impacting patient quality of life associated with RP. It will also observe how these changes evolve over time.
Associate Professor Chen treats numerous patients with retinitis pigmentosa, including families with multiple members who have developed severe retinitis pigmentosa in their early teens.
