Allegro Expands Its Anti-Integrin Portfolio with New Dry Eye Disease Drug Candidate ALG-1007
Allegro Ophthalmics announced the expansion of the company’s anti-integrin portfolio with the new topical dry eye disease drug candidate ALG-1007.
ALG-1007 bolsters Allegro’s existing anti-integrin portfolio, which includes risuteganib (Luminate), currently being developed for diabetic macular edema (DME) and intermediate dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Preclinical and clinical findings of risuteganib convinced the company that it could develop a new anti-integrin compound to treat DED.
Allegro also announced that world-renowned clinicians Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, Edward J. Holland, MD, and Eric D. Donnenfeld, MD, have joined the company’s newly formed Cornea Scientific Advisory Board (Cornea SAB) to provide strategy and direction on Allegro’s clinical development pipeline in the areas of corneal disease and dry eye. Dr. Lindstrom will serve as Chairperson of the Cornea SAB.
“While we remain focused on and committed to our retina portfolio, we at Allegro are continuously exploring new ways to apply our anti-integrin assets to help improve patients’ vision,” Vicken Karageozian, MD, President and CEO of Allegro Ophthalmics, said in a company news release. “ALG-1007 represents Allegro’s first exploratory drug beyond the retina. We recognize the need to bring in independent external expertise that complements our company’s strengths and are thrilled to have such an outstanding group of advisors as Drs. Lindstrom, Holland and Donnenfeld help shape and accelerate our clinical program for dry eye disease.”
“While there are a number of good therapies for dry eye disease, this is a multifactorial disease and there remain unmet needs,” Dr. Lindstrom said in the news release. “I am enthusiastic about the early ex-U.S. proof-of- concept data that I’ve seen and look forward to working with my colleagues Drs. Donnenfeld and Holland, who share my enthusiasm, in helping Allegro drive the next phase of this drug candidate forward.”
Dr. Lindstrom is the founder and attending surgeon of Minnesota Eye Consultants, Adjunct Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Department of Ophthalmology, and an internationally- recognized leader in corneal, cataract, refractive and laser surgery. Dr. Holland is the director of Cornea Services at Cincinnati Eye Institute, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati, and has an international reputation for his knowledge and expertise in the field of cornea and external disease. A well-respected refractive cataract surgery pioneer and LASIK eye surgeon, Dr. Donnenfeld is a founding partner of Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island and Ophthalmic Consultants of Connecticut. He is also the National Medical Director for TLC Laser Eye Centers, the Surgical Director of the Lions Eye Bank of Long Island, and a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at New York University Medical Center.
Drs. Lindstrom, Holland and Donnenfeld are board-certified ophthalmologists who have been at the forefront of ophthalmology throughout their careers, as recognized researchers, teachers, inventors, writers, lecturers and highly acclaimed physicians and surgeons. They have served as board members for companies developing many of the breakthrough ophthalmic technologies of the past two decades.