Inflammasome Therapeutics reports that its investigational drug kamuvudine-8 (K8) reduced lesion growth in patients with geographic atrophy (GA) by more than 50% after 3 months of treatment in an early clinical study. The company is evaluating K8, delivered through a sustained-release intraocular implant, in a 6-month, 30-patient safety and dose-escalation trial. Patients with bilateral GA receive low-dose, medium-dose, or high-dose implants at baseline and 3 months in one eye, with the untreated fellow eye serving as control.

In the low-dose cohort, 10 treated eyes showed a 53% reduction in lesion growth compared to untreated eyes, the company reported. Vision also remained stable in treated eyes, with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) increasing by an average of 1.4 ETDRS letters, whereas untreated eyes lost an average of 1.9 ETDRS letters on a standard acuity test. K8 showed no adverse safety signals. The company has completed enrollment for the medium-dose cohort and is currently enrolling the high-dose cohort.

K8 is part of a new class of inflammasome inhibitors, kamuvudines, which are derived from nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), a class of anti-HIV drugs. They retain the anti-inflammasome activity of NRTIs while being engineered to reduce systemic toxicity, making them candidates for treating ocular and neuroinflammatory diseases. In addition to K8, Inflammasome Therapeutics has initiated a pair of phase 1/2 trials for a second kamuvudine, K9, which is orally delivered, for diabetic macular edema and thyroid eye disease.