Aciont Working on Five-Minute Treatment

A five-minute noninvasive transscleral treatment: Aciont’s Visual XP is used to deliver molecules passively. Another treatment, Visual XI, is based on iontopheresis and enables the transport of macular molecules, CEO John Higuchi said. DSP-Visulex is a topical formulation of dexamethasone for noninfectious uveitis.

The patient wears something akin to a scleral lens to deliver treatment. A rabbit study found two to three treatments resolved the vitreous inflammation. Histopathology confirmed the resolution of inflammation. It’s been well tolerated in the animal models, with no intraocular pressure (IOP) increases or toxicity. DSPV-201 showed good efficacy and safety for uveitis (90% had an anterior chamber cell count of 0) at both 8% and 15% concentrations compared with Pred Forte, which had about an 80% resolution.

Further, transient IOP increase returned to baseline after every dose. The implications go beyond uveitis and may include macular edema and pain. “Steroid treatment without increasing IOP is potentially a distinguishing feature of our approach,” Higuchi pointed out. Aciont is also working on delivering bevacizumab (BEV-Visulex), which has shown clinically relevant amounts and comparable efficacy to intravitreal injections in a rabbit model of choroidal neovascularization.