Australia’s first clinical trials into a new gene therapy to treat dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have begun at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA).
Two studies, Horizon and Explore, will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Gyroscope Therapeutics’ gene therapy drug GT005 for the treatment of geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to AMD. The drug is designed to stimulate a person’s cells to create Complement Factor I, a protein regulating the alternative pathway of the complement system, key to slowing the progression of dry AMD, the company said.
Vitreoretinal surgeon Dr Tom Edwards, CERA’s principal investigator of retinal gene therapy research, administered the first GT005 single dose sub-retinal injections in patients at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne.
Gyroscope Therapeutics’ Explore trial is enrolling up to 75 people globally with GA secondary to AMD and those who have rare variants in their Complement Factor I (CFI) gene associated with low levels of the CFI protein in their blood. The Horizon trial is evaluating GT005 in a broader group of up to 180 people with GA secondary to AMD.
