Study reveals dry eye pipeline of mechanism of action, preclinical results

YouYou Pharma is taking the wraps off its dry eye pipeline of mechanism of action and preclinical results. (Image courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Yuyu Pharma unveiled the results of its mechanism of action and head-to- head studies for its dry eye treatment peptide (project name: YP-P10) at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2023 Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

A study conducted Virginia Calder, PhD, of the University College London (UCL) found that YP-P10 significantly reduces inflammatory Th2 and Th17 cells. In particular, the YP-P10 model reduced Th17 cells 25% more effectively when compared to the control group.

According to the company, YP-P10 is a novel, patented, synthetic peptide with anti-inflammatory properties being explored for the potential treatment of dry eye disease (DED).

In April 2022, Yuyu received clearance from the FDA that enabled the company to initiate the phase 2 clinical study, ICECAP, to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of YP-P10 Ophthalmic Solution in patients with DED. ICECAP is Yuyu's first biopharmaceutical clinical trial within the United States.

Moreover, the company noted the YP-P10 pre-clinical head-to-head study, jointly conducted by five people including Kyungho Park, DVM, BS, of Naason Science, showed statistically significant reduction of corneal damage by measuring corneal fluorescein Staining (CFS).

The study compared the efficacy of YP-P10 to that of several competing dry eye treatment products such as Lifitegrast, Cyclosporine, Diquafosol, and Hyaluronic Acid. The results showed that YP-P10 had 12% better efficacy than Lifitegrast, 7% better than Cyclosporine, 9 % better than Hyaluronic Acid, and showed similar efficacy to Diquafosol.

"Through this ARVO presentation, ophthalmologists and global pharmaceutical companies have once again confirmed their interest in YP-P10,’ Laxmikant Neil Gharat, Yuyu Pharma’s director of Business Development, said in a news release. “We plan to announce the results of YP-P10's phase 2 clinical trial in the first half of this year."

Yuyu Pharma anticipates that YP-P10 will be an effective treatment and has completed patent registration in 4 countries (USA, Korea, Australia, Russia) with patent applications pending in 11 other countries.