OliX Pharmaceuticals Doses First Patient in Clinical Trial for RNAi Therapeutic OLX10212 for Dry and Wet AMD

OliX Pharmaceuticals announced that the first patient has been successfully dosed in a phase 1 clinical trial (NCT05643118) evaluating OLX10212, an investigational RNAi therapeutic, intended for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), including geographic atrophy (GA) and neovascular AMD.

OLX10212 targets inflammation pathways that play a key role in the development of GA and wet AMD. The company will evaluate the safety and tolerability of OLX10212 administered by intravitreal injection in up to 60 patients with wet AMD in a phase 1 clinical trial in a multicenter, single- and multi-dose, dose-escalation study in the US.

“This is a landmark study of RNA interference-based gene silencing technology in AMD that targets a novel pathway," Demetrios Vavvas, MD, PhD, Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of OliX Pharmaceuticals, and Professor of Ophthalmology and Director, Retina Service at Harvard Medical School, said in a company news release. "The Asymmetric siRNA technology of OLX10212 targets pathways upstream of VEGF and offers increased specificity over conventional siRNA having the additional benefit of impermanence over gene therapy. Through both its mechanism of action and novel target, OLX10212 aims to confer efficacy coupled with extended durability beyond simply blockade of VEGF, addressing key components shared between nvAMD and 'dry' AMD to the benefit of our patients.”