Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Musings on the InnoRx - SRDX marriage:

It’s late on the other side of the Atlantic, so I’ll reply to my own query and wait for isolution to chime in later.

After letting today’s CC sink in for a few hours, I feel even more strongly that InnoRx’s device (invented by Dr. de Juan) and SRDX’s proven polymer technology is a powerful combination.

Until now, the major roadblock to the development of this device platform was a lack of funding. Now, that’s taken care of --SRDX will fund the clinical trials at least through the completion of phase 1.

The advantages of this device are manifold:

1.The ability to elute a drug at a programmable, constant rate over an extended period. This addresses a pharmacodynamic drawback of periodic intravitreal injections such as with Macugen: the concentration in the vitreal chamber is too high immediately following an injection and then becomes too low when it’s almost time for the next treatment. The too-high concentration initially can cause inflammation, increased IOP, and other problems.

2. By keeping the dose level small and constant, possible systemic effects are reduced to an even further degree than with Macugen or Lucentis.

3. The InnoRx device can be implanted and removed with a simple procedure in the doctor’s office. (Hence, the retinal surgeon is properly incentivized, to use a phrase favored by EYET.)

4. Patient non-compliance is all but eliminated as an issue, as discussed in #msg-5158276.

5. The polymer development for the InnoRx device has already been done –it’s the same polymer SRDX made for JNJ’s Cypher cardiac stent. This greases the wheels on the regulatory front because the FDA is already intimately familiar with a key feature of the product.

6. Last but not least, the InnoRx device has the ability to work with a wide array of drugs. SRDX hopes to license the InnoRx device to drug developers but will also work on a couple of in-house drug candidates developed by Dr. de Juan. SRDX’s initial phase-1 trial will use Triamcinilone, but this is more a proof of principle than an attempt to make Triamcinilone the drug of choice in AMD/DME. If the phase-1 trial is successful, we could conceivably see multiple phase-2/3 trials for this device with various AMD/DME drugs in the next couple of years.

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For background info on InnoRx, please see these iHub posts:

#msg-2346091
#msg-3781650
#msg-3916849

Slides showing the actual device had been available through message #986, but it appears that the linked pdf file no longer exists. I’ll check if there’s a copy of this material available somewhere; if anyone finds it, please post.