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McInnes, Iain
The West of Scotland is rapidly becoming known as one of the top centres for research into inflammatory diseases, and Professor Iain McIn…
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ITI Life Sciences Seeks to Fund Innovative R&D Programme to Develop New Methods of Delivering Drugs and Diagnostics into the Eye
28 April 2008
ITI Life Sciences, the publicly funded innovation group, today announces it is seeking to commission a new £5-10 million ($10-20 million) R&D programme in the area of Intra-Ocular Delivery (IOD).
With the increasing prevalence of eye diseases expected in future years, due to an increasing ageing population, this new programme will be focused on developing innovative methods of delivering modern biological drugs and diagnostics into the eye.
Recently, a number of compounds have reached the market to treat eye diseases but because it is difficult to get them across the eye's barriers, they must be injected directly into the eye. Not only is this procedure unpleasant, but it is also associated with its own side-effects, such as elevated intra-ocular pressure, which can lead to other conditions. The injections must also be repeated regularly.
In terms of diagnosing ocular and non-ocular conditions, current methods use optical instrumentation to scan the back of the eye. A quick and convenient diagnostic biological agent that could detect pathological changes earlier would be a real breakthrough. However, this is most likely to involve the use of targeting compounds based on antibodies and, therefore, the same delivery challenges exist as outlined above.
Eleanor Mitchell, Managing Director of ITI Life Sciences, said: "Our programme is responding to the changing environment where there is significant interest in the application of new biologics-based therapeutics to eye diseases, and increasing evidence that certain diseases, including diabetes, can be detected at an early stage in the eye. Unfortunately, the eye has natural barriers which make effective delivery of new therapeutics and diagnostics into the eye extremely challenging."
She added, "ITI Life Sciences has conducted an in-depth analysis of the current innovation barriers and emerging market trends in this area and believes there is a significant opportunity to develop revolutionary new ophthalmic delivery technologies to address these market needs. ITI Life Sciences, therefore, is looking to work with leaders in these areas who can contribute their expertise to the creation of an innovative R&D programme to develop such a technology."
As a first step, ITI Life Sciences plans to host a programme-scoping workshop involving a number of internationally recognised academic and commercial experts to explore areas of convergence and potential innovation in the IOD space. In order to be considered for the workshop and future onward involvement in the R&D programme, responses to a Call for Expressions of Interest are invited from companies, agencies, institutes, academia and individuals. No geographical restrictions apply and ITI Life Sciences welcomes responses to this call from non-UK organisations. ITI Life Sciences is committed to helping its partners achieve success and ensuring the successful onward commercialisation of programme outputs.
Further details of the Call for Expressions of Interest are available at www.itilifesciences.co.uk/IOD. Responses must be received no later than the 2 June 2008.
For further information contact Gordon Struthers, ITI Life Sciences T : 01382 568060, E : gordon.struthers@itilifesciences.com
