Eyevensys, a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company developing non-viral gene therapies for ophthalmic diseases, announces a scientific presentation at the 2023 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.
PARIS and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eyevensys, a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company developing non-viral gene therapies for ophthalmic diseases, announces a scientific presentation at the 2023 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.
The presentation reported data showing the efficacy and durability of EYS809, a dual-gene plasmid in development for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). EYS809 is delivered via Eyevensys’ groundbreaking electrotransfection technology and encodes both aflibercept, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein, and decorin, an anti-fibrotic native protein that targets choroidal neovascularization (CNV), vascular leakage, and subretinal fibrosis.
The EYS809 dual plasmid is developed as a first-in-class treatment, resulting in production of the well-established anti-VEGF protein, aflibercept, as well as decorin, a promising candidate. Decorin has been found to play key roles in inhibiting angiogenic factors and regulating various pathways involved in retinal diseases, including the formation of CNV, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) barrier breakdown, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of RPE cells, which contribute to subretinal fibrosis in wet AMD. In a rat model of persistent CNV, EYS809 outperformed intravitreal aflibercept, demonstrating ongoing reduction in both vascular leakage and CNV lesions. Additionally, EYS809 significantly promoted repopulation of the RPE over the CNV lesion, indicating its potential to promote disease regression and reduce the need for retreatment.
These preclinical results support the growing body of evidence that decorin is a key target in halting the pathogenesis of retinal diseases. EYS809 is unique in integrating both the decorin pathway and the established anti-VEGF pathway and has the potential to deliver improved treatment outcomes for patients wet AMD.
“We are pleased to add these data to a growing body of evidence in support of EYS809 for the treatment of wet AMD, suggesting improvements in efficacy and durability with our dual plasmid over standard intravitreal aflibercept,” said Francine Behar-Cohen, MD, PhD, founder and chief innovation officer at Eyevensys.
Eyevensys’ proprietary electrotransfection system and non-viral plasmids also uniquely target the ciliary muscle, resulting in sustained protein expression directly in the choroid and vitreous—a novel and promising treatment approach to retinal diseases. The design of the electrotransfection device has been clinically validated and optimized in collaboration with retinal specialists and ophthalmic engineers for intuitive use. This unique drug delivery platform ideally addresses the unmet medical need for long-lasting treatments for eye diseases.
“The Eyevensys DNA plasmids and electrotransfection platform use the ciliary muscle to induce sustained production of therapeutic proteins,” said Sunil Srivastava, MD, a retina specialist in Cleveland, OH, with experience using the Eyevensys system. “This has great potential in the treatment of chronic, sight-threatening diseases like wet AMD.”
Details of the presentation are as follows.
Title: Efficacy and durability of EYS809 non-viral gene therapy in nAMD preclinical models
Presenter: Francine Behar-Cohen, MD, PhD, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Eyevensys
Presentation Type/Number: Paper Session #204
More information about the meeting may be found via the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting website https://www.arvo.org/annual-meeting/.
About Eyevensys
Eyevensys is a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company developing its innovative technology to enable the sustained intraocular production of therapeutic proteins to treat a broad range of ophthalmic diseases. The Eyevensys technology, developed by Dr. Francine Behar-Cohen in Paris, uses electroporation to deliver proprietary non-viral DNA plasmids encoding therapeutic proteins into the ciliary muscle of the eye to allow continued production and extended treatment benefit. The novel, minimally-invasive treatment holds promise as a durable alternative to repeat intravitreal or subretinal injections for retinal diseases.
Non-viral DNA plasmids currently in the pipeline include EYS809 for wet AMD and EYS611 for geographic atrophy.
Eyevensys was founded in 2008. The company has offices in Paris, France and the U.S.
For more information on Eyevensys and its clinical pipeline, please visit www.eyevensys.com
CONTACT: Emily Klepacz, emily@ethisinc.com
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