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18 May 2018

Cambridge Research Biochemicals to Support Preclinical Study on Treatment for Vision-Damaging Eye Disease

Under a new contract, Cambridge Research Biochemicals® will support evaluation of a potential new treatment approach for Fuchs Dystrophy, a disease that typically occurs in middle age and may cause a gradual loss of vision.

Cambridge Research Biochemicals (CRB), under contract to Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., will develop reagents to evaluate eFGF-1, a compound that can promote repair and regeneration of damaged tissues, such as those involved in Fuchs Dystrophy.

Leidos Biomed is the prime contractor for the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute-sponsored Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research. The research is supported through NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences’ (NCATS) Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) program. CRB is a United Kingdom-based custom peptide and antibody manufacturer with more than 38 years of industry expertise.

The TRND project will test the efficacy, toxicity, and other characteristics of one or more eFGF-1 drug candidates in preclinical studies. CRB will develop sensitive and specific reagents that can accurately measure eFGF-1 in laboratory samples. The contracted work includes both monoclonal and polyclonal antibody generation plus labelling of the final tool reagent with a fluorescent dye.

“We are delighted to be awarded the contract and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with these U.S.-based organisations,” said CRB Commercial Director Emily Humphrys. “It is an honour for a British Company to be awarded this contract, and we are keen to delight a new client once again with our skills and expertise.”

“NCATS is committed to finding novel therapies for rare and neglected diseases. We will apply our knowledge of biopharmaceutical product development to this novel ophthalmic therapy by developing an ultrasensitive and specific bioanalytical method for TTHX-1114, as well as immunogenicity assessment methods,” said Erik Wagner, who along with Xin Xu and Philip Sanderson are the scientific leads for the project at NCATS/TRND.

Fuchs Dystrophy is an inherited disorder that affects about 4 percent of people over age 50. It progresses slowly with varying effects. In some people, vision becomes so cloudy that treatment is warranted.