Sirna's macular degeneration treatment helps vision, phase I trial finds

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Oct. 18 - Sirna Therapeutics, Inc. announced Wednesday that preliminary results of a phase I trial for Sirna-027 to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) continues to demonstrate the treatment is safe, well-tolerated and improves patient's visual acuity.

One of Sirna's clinical investigators, Edward Quinn of the Wilmer Eye Institute at The Johns Hopkins University, presented preliminary trial data at an annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, according to a company news release.

Sirna-027 is a short interfering RNA (siRNA) molecule that targets Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1. Results of the trial show the treatment improves visual acuity of 100% of the 22 patients enrolled. Twenty-three percent of patients experienced clinically significant improvement in visual acuity after eight weeks from a single injection, Quinn said in the release.

A reduction in the central foveal thickness also was observed in the majority of the patients, Quinn said.

"I have seen with my own patients the clinical results from Sirna-027 and believe that it is a very promising compound that could significantly improve the quality of life for AMD patients," clinical investigator Peter Kaiser of the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic said in the release.

The San Francisco, Calif.-based biotechnology company recently announced a strategic ocular alliance with specialty pharmaceutical company Allergan to develop Sirna-027 and discover and develop other RNAi-based therapeutics.

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