Cordeiro Explains How DARC May Help Detect Retinal Disease Earlier

Francesca Cordeiro, MD, PhD, professor, UCL and Imperial College London, Western Eye Hospital London, discusses a promising new technology that could enable much earlier detection of retinal neurodegeneration. A Phase I trial of the detection of apoptosing retinal cells (DARC) scan demonstrated the retinal biomarker could visualize nerve cell apoptosis in vivo, enabling researchers to see increased levels of cell death in patients with glaucoma. Dr. Cordeiro says she is in the early stages of spinning out the technology. “We will be looking for investors though we haven’t decided the format the company will take,” she explains. “But we do know there is a lot of interest in trying to reduce the length of clinical trials for people who have pipeline drugs as well as people who realize if you want to deal with a disease effectively to reduce the socioeconomic burden, we need to identify disease much earlier.”