Acucela, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing new treatments for blinding eye diseases, announced today that Ryo Kubota, M.D., Ph.D., Acucela's chairman, president and chief executive officer, has been invited to participate in Retina International's annual Scientific & Medical Advisory Board meeting being held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on May 3, 2010. During the event - which is being held in conjunction with the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology's (ARVO) 2010 Annual Meeting - select experts will examine recent developments in the treatment of degenerative retinal diseases. Dr. Kubota will discuss Acucela's oral visual cycle modulator, ACU-4429, which is being developed by Acucela and its partner Otsuka Pharmaceutical and is in Phase 2 as a potential therapy for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD). In addition to Dr. Kubota attending the Scientific & Medical Advisory Board meeting, several of Acucela's Scientific Advisory Board members have also been invited to join the session.
“We look forward to sharing information about Acucela's lead compound, ACU-4429, which entered the ENVISION Clarity Phase 2 clinical trial earlier this year and which was recently granted Fast Track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of dry AMD.”
"We are very excited and honored to participate in Retina International's Scientific and Medical Advisory Board meeting and appreciate the invitation to discuss cutting edge ophthalmic treatments and developments with leading experts in the field," stated Dr. Kubota. "We look forward to sharing information about Acucela's lead compound, ACU-4429, which entered the ENVISION Clarity Phase 2 clinical trial earlier this year and which was recently granted Fast Track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of dry AMD."
ACU-4429 is one of the only treatments in development that works to regulate the eye's visual cycle for processing light. By regulating this cycle, ACU-4429 has demonstrated the ability to decrease the levels of toxic by-products in the eye and thereby potentially stop the advance of dry AMD. Dry AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in people over the age of 50, yet there are no therapies currently approved to treat this condition.
AMD occurs in "dry" and "wet" forms, which together are estimated to affect more than 29 million people worldwide, according to a 2007 Visiongain report. This number is expected to double in the next 20 years due to the aging population. About 90 percent of AMD patients - or 26 million people - suffer from dry AMD, a degenerative disease that affects the part of the retina responsible for fine visual acuity and color vision.
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