OKYO Pharma Limited announced that it has begun screening and recruiting patients for a Phase 2 trial of OK-101 for the treatment of NCP. The Phase 2 study is designed as a double-masked, randomized, 12-week placebo-controlled study in NCP patients. A total of 48 patients in whom NCP disease was confirmed by confocal microscopy are planned to be enrolled in the study.
He is also a member of OKYO’s Scientific Advisory Board. OK-101 is a lipid-conjugated chemerin peptide agonist of the G protein-coupled ChemR23 receptor, typically found on ocular immune cells responsible for the inflammatory response. OK-101 was developed using membrane-anchored peptide technology to produce a novel, long-acting drug candidate for the treatment of dry eye disease.
OK-101 has been shown to be anti-inflammatory and analgesic in mouse models of dry eye and neuropathic corneal pain (NCP) and is designed not to be washed out due to the lipid anchor built into the drug molecule, which increases the residence time of OK-101 in the ocular environment becomes. OK-101 demonstrated clear statistical significance across multiple endpoints in a recently completed Phase 2, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study for the treatment of DED.
