Aerpio shares tumble as lead eye drug trips up in mid-stage diabetic retinopathy study
Roughly two years after raising $40 million in a private placement, Aerpio Pharmaceuticals’ lead experimental eye drug has hit a roadblock after failing a mid-stage study in patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) — the earliest stage of diabetic eye disease, which occurs when high blood sugar levels cause damage to blood vessels in the retina.
These blood vessels can swell and leak, or close restricting blood flow and eventually culminate in blindness. In the 167-patient trial, called TIME-2b, patients were given the drug — AKB-9778 — (once or twice daily) or placebo (once or twice daily) for 48 weeks. The main goal was to improve the the study eye diabetic retinopathy severity score (DRSS) by two or more steps compared to the placebo.
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