Cancer-Busting Therapy In Development To Treat Eye Disease

An Israeli startup that uses light-sensitive medicine to destroy malignant tumors is collaborating with Dutch researchers to adapt the treatment for a severe and at present incurable eye disease. 

The cancer treatment developed by ImPact Biotech can destroy tumors in the prostate gland by starving them of their blood supply. 

It works by intravenously delivering an anti-cancer drug that is only activated once it is inside the tumor and hit by light from optical fibers. It has minimal effect on surrounding healthy tissue.

Now, the Ness Ziona-based startup is joining forces with Maastricht University to create a treatment based on this platform, which could prevent the progression of Pathological Myopia. 

This severe form of short-sightedness affects up to 3.8 percent of the world’s population and can lead to irreversible blindness. 

The disease causes the eye’s cornea and lens to progressively elongate, which leads to damage to the retina and macula. There is currently no treatment to stop the progression of the disease or prevent its complications. 

ImPact Biotech’s drug delivery platform, the Padeliporfin VTP, has already been approved for patients with low-risk prostate cancer by the European Medicines Agency, which is responsible for the evaluation and safety monitoring of medicines. It is currently undergoing clinical trials for a kind of kidney cancer. 

“We look forward to collaborating with Maastricht University’s Drs. LaPointe & Dickman on this important research collaboration to address the huge unmet medical need in progressive Myopia, while leveraging our Padeliporfin VTP technology to help patients afflicted with this highly debilitating condition,” said Dr. David Perry, Global Head of Research and Development at ImPact Biotech.