Ocuphire Pharma, Inc. presented clinical data on their drug APX3330 in a late-breaker session at the American Diabetes Association's Annual Conference. The data showed that APX3330 reduced the worsening of diabetic retinopathy after 24 weeks of treatment. This could potentially shift the treatment paradigm for diabetic retinopathy and broaden the prescriber base to include primary care and endocrinologists.
The ZETA-1 trial, which compared APX3330 to placebo, demonstrated statistically significant reduction of disease progression in patients with diabetic retinopathy. No patients treated with APX3330 had a worsening of diabetic retinopathy from baseline, compared to 16% of placebo-treated patients. These results highlight the potential of APX3330 to slow disease progression and address an unmet need for millions of patients at risk for vision-threatening complications.
APX3330 is a small molecule oral drug that blocks pathways involved in angiogenesis and inflammation, which are implicated in ocular diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. Ocuphire plans to have an End-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA