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Encapsulated cell technology shows potential for targeted drug delivery in an early trial
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KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — An implantable device placed inside the retinal barrier can be used to deliver low doses of drugs over the long term, according to a physician speaking here. The device uses cells that are specially engineered to release a therapeutic factor, she said.
Weng Tao, MD, PhD, presented data from a phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the NT-501 device for treating patients with retinitis pigmentosa at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute's Angiogenesis 2007 meeting. Dr. Tao is chief scientific officer and vice president of research and development at Neurotech, which is developing the technology.
"Other complements or antibodies against certain therapeutic targets [that] you can imagine could be easily engineered into the cell and into the device to be delivered," Dr. Tao said.
"It will bypass the requirement of penetrating the barrier," she said. "It delivers a newly synthesized therapeutic agent directly to the target. It allows low-dose, long-term delivery for at least 1 year."
In the study, conducted at the National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Md., researchers implanted the device in 10 patients with late-stage disease; five received low-dose drug delivery and five received high-dose drug delivery. Investigators followed both groups for 6 months.
The results support the safety of the device and also suggest efficacy as patients experienced "marked visual acuity improvements," Dr. Tao said.
The device is 6 mm long and can be easily implanted and explanted, she added.
Neurotech is proceeding with a phase 2 trial for dry AMD and phase 2/3 trials for late and early retinitis pigmentosa. The first patients in these trials received their implants about 2 weeks ago, Dr. Tao said.
When asked if this could possibly work for Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech), she said, "Lucentis would be very easy to be engineered."