Product Candidates
We are committed to discovering and developing drug candidates with the potential to make meaningful impact on the lives of patients with blinding eye diseases and other eye disorders.
ACU-4429
The lead compound in our VCM program, ACU-4429, is being evaluated for the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a degenerative disease of the eye that affects the part of the retina responsible for fine visual acuity and color vision. Acucela launched the ENVISION (Evaluating a Novel VISION treatment for AMD) Clarity Trial, a Phase 2 clinical trial of ACU-4429 in patients with dry AMD, in January 2010. In March 2010, ACU-4429 was granted Fast Track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of dry AMD. The FDA Fast Track programs are designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of new drugs that are intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions and that demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs. There is no approved treatment for dry AMD currently on the market.
Rebamipide
Rebamipide ophthalmic suspension is a Phase 3-stage product candidate that is being evaluated for dry eye, a condition that affects more than 10 million Americans. Otsuka Pharmaceutical discovered Rebamipide and Acucela is developing the ophthalmic suspension of the compound with Otsuka. Rebamipide increases the level of mucin in the conjunctiva and cornea. It is expected to be effective in dry eye treatment by stabilizing the tear film and leading to the improvement of the corneal-conjunctival damage associated with the condition.
OcuScreen™
The ability to screen for drug leads using primary retinal neurons is severely limited because neurons usually die out very quickly after being cultured, thus preventing adequate analysis in compound screening and limiting the ability to commercialize new drugs for eye diseases. Acucela's OcuScreen™ technologies address these issues, making them useful proprietary pharmaceutical screening systems.