A candidate drug for treating macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among the elderly, has been developed to be administered as eye drops instead of injections.
The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced today (28th) that a research team led by Sun-hoon Seo at the Natural Products Research Center discovered a peptide substance to treat dry macular degeneration and confirmed its effects through experiments on mice.
Macular degeneration is a condition in which abnormalities occur in the macula, the central part of the retina at the back of the eye, leading to reduced vision and distortion of objects.
As of 2023, the only treatments for dry macular degeneration approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are two injectable drugs, but due to the location at the back of the eye, there are concerns about complications from injections, and developing eye drops as an alternative has been challenging.
The research team focused on the inflammation signals of Toll-like receptors (TLR), a major cause of macular degeneration, and discovered a peptide substance that binds to signaling proteins to prevent the onset of the condition.
The team expects that developing the drug in the form of eye drops could improve patient convenience and compliance and reduce treatment costs.
The research results were published in the international journal “Advanced Science” on the 31st of last month.