Aviceda Therapeutics has dosed the first patient in its Phase II SIGLEC trial investigating AVD-104 as a treatment for geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
AVD-104 is a novel glycan-coated nanoparticle, supported by a strong pre-clinical in vivo efficacy and safety profile.
“I am honoured to be the first to dose a new agent that we hope will usher in a generation of safe treatments for GA with better outcomes than were ever possible before,” said Ashkan Abbey, MD of Texas Retina Associates in Dallas.
David Callanan, Chief Medical Officer of Aviceda, said: “AVD-104 attacks two fundamental processes in GA by modulating critical inflammatory pathways through the inhibition of retinal macrophage inflammatory activity and repolarisation of activated macrophages to their resolution states, and, through inhibition of complement cascade amplification.
“Based on this dual mechanism and the exquisite selectivity and preclinical potency of AVD-104, we believe it could provide a profound benefit for patients in dire need of new therapies. We have designed our Phase II trial to move efficiently through dose escalation and to increase the chances of seeing early signals of clinical activity.”
The company hopes to be able to use its technology to modulate the inflammatory activity of most immune cells in the future and target other therapeutic areas with unmet needs, such as immunology, fibrosis, and neurology.
