Approximately 1.3 billion people around the world suffer some form of vision impairment. About 80% is considered avoidable. A key success factor in any eye therapy is the application of the right dosage of medicine in the right place over time. Diseases of the retina (back of the eye) require delivery of medicine via frequent localized needle injections that cause significant discomfort and inconvenience.

DSM developed an innovative, sustained-release drug delivery solution to address this therapeutic need. Targeting retinal disorders such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME), it has shown strong efficacy in preclinical models. A small, injectable, biodegradable polymer fiber is loaded with medicine and injected at a specific location in the eye. The medicine is then released over several months until the fiber degrades. The new treatment is designed to reduce the need for injections in the eye from almost monthly to less than once every four months. Additional fibers can subsequently be injected to ensure continuous therapy.

We have commercialized this solution through a strategic R&D collaboration and license agreement with Aerie Pharmaceuticals. In 2019, the first ever clinical trial of the AR-13503 Sustained Release (SR) Implant in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) or diabetic macular edema (DME) began. “This agreement opens up many new opportunities as we continue to innovate with new drugs and technologies to potentially treat many diseases of the eye,” says Dr. Vicente Anido, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Aerie. “This is a platform on which we can build our innovative sustained-release strategies for many ophthalmic diseases, including glaucoma.”