Eyevensys has found a way to deliver gene therapy without viral vectors. Clara caught up with the company’s CEO Raffy Kazandjian at BioTrinity to hear more.
Eyevensys is based in Paris and has set itself the mission of enhancing current treatment options in the field of ophthalmology. The biotech has developed a new gene therapeutic approach that allows the delivery of genes coding for the drug without the use of viral vectors.
“Eyevensys is trying to really create a completely new paradigm for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases,” Raffy told us. “What we’re trying to do is transform a patient’s own tissues into biofactories that will produce the therapeutic protein or therapy that the patient needs.”
The company has developed a platform called EyeCET, which is a non-viral system that uses electroporation to inject the plasmid directly into the ciliary muscle, causing the muscle itself to start producing the therapeutic protein. “We believe that this will improve the clinical outcome, by exposing the patient to the drug in a continuous way, while it will avoid all problems that could arise from a systemic exposure to the drug,” Raffy explained.
The company just announced the treatment of the first patient with its lead product EYS606, a plasmid which encodes for an anti-TNFα drug to treat patients with non-infectious uveitis. Raffy noted that “this was an important landmark for the company, (…) because electroporation in the eye has never been done before.”
However, EYS606 is not the only drug the biotech is working on, as Raffy told us, “We are actually building a comprehensive portfolio of therapies to address a wide variety of ophthalmic indications.”
To hear more about Eyevensys’ disruptive technology, have a look at the video!
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