The UZ Brussel recently placed an implant that can deliver medication for three years in the eyes of patients who have blurred vision due to diabetes. “The market for such treatments is $5 billion.”
Diabetes already affects 1 in 10 adults worldwide, the International Diabetes Federation has calculated. The chronic disease can also lead to eye disorders, among other things.
For example, 20 to 30 percent of diabetics will have to deal with diabetic macular edema (DME) after 20 years. In DME, the macula, an area in the center of the retina, fills with fluid. The condition makes vision blurry and can lead to blindness.
Experts describe the classic first-line treatment as rather laborious. DME patients must go to the hospital monthly for an injection into the eye to stabilize or improve visual acuity.
Patients usually have to be taken to the hospital by an attendant because they have poor eyesight themselves. Moreover, the treatment does not work for everyone.
UZ Brussel recently acquired a long-term solution for DME patients. ‘We now also use a revolutionary implant that was developed in recent years by the American pharmaceutical company Alimera Sciences,’ explains ophthalmologist Giuseppe Fasolino.
In concrete terms, DME patients who do not respond adequately to first-line treatment at UZ Brussel are given an eye implant with steroids injected. ‘The big advantage is that the implant can deliver cortisone medication into the eye on a continuous basis for three years and thus allows the patients to see better’, explains Fasolino.
For several months now, a reimbursement has been made in our country for this new implant, developed in America, as a second-line treatment for DME patients, in whom the standard treatment therefore does not have the desired effect.
“Many other companies are currently looking for better DME treatments as more and more diabetes patients are added worldwide,” says Fasolino.
According to the International Diabetes Federation, the number of diabetics worldwide will rise to 643 million adults by 2030 and to 783 million by 2045.
5 billion dollars
“The total market for DME treatments is estimated at around 5 billion dollars worldwide,” explains Michaël Dillen, the chief business officer of the Leuven biotech company Oxurion.
‘Today, DME patients are traditionally treated with first-line therapies such as Eylea (from the German pharmaceutical company Bayer) or Lucentis (from the Swiss Novartis). But in 40 to 50 percent of the patients treated with it, there is little or no improvement. We are targeting precisely that group with our candidate treatment.’
Oxurion is currently recruiting 130 patients in the United States and Europe for its ongoing Phase 2 study, which will compare the effectiveness of THR-149 with that of the current standard of care Eylea. Those results are expected in the middle of next year.
The essence
- The UZ Brussel recently placed an implant in the eyes of patients who have blurred vision due to diabetes, which can deliver cortisone medication for three years
- Leuven biotech company Oxurion is also developing a treatment candidate for the condition called diabetic macular edema (DME).
- Globally, the market for DME treatments is $5 billion.