Aprogen Develops Multi-Receptor Antibody Fusion Protein for Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatment

Aprogen announced on the 21st that it has developed a multi-specific receptor-antibody hybrid showing superior therapeutic effects in disease models compared to existing commercialized macular degeneration treatments. The company is testing four candidate substances for retinal disease treatment, among which at least two demonstrated better therapeutic effects than existing commercialized treatments.

The multi-specific receptor-antibody hybrid is Aprogen's proprietary platform technology designed to simultaneously block the functions of at least three types of signaling proteins. It does so by connecting recombined receptors?engineered to bind at least two types of ligands?to an antibody that binds a third signaling protein.

The retinal disease treatment candidates developed using this technology are designed to target not only vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which Bayer’s Eylea binds to, and VEGF plus angiopoietin-2, which Roche’s Vabysmo binds to, but also a third signaling protein. These substances showed superior or outstanding results compared to existing commercialized treatments in preventing abnormal neovascularization, vascular leakage, and abnormal vascular tortuosity in animal retinas.

Retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema are emerging as important therapeutic markets alongside cancer. These diseases are major causes of vision loss in adults, with approximately 40 million patients worldwide. According to a 2020 Research and Research report, the market size for these treatments was $3.8 billion and is rapidly growing. Major pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis, Roche, and AbbVie, as well as various biopharmaceutical firms, are fiercely competing to develop drugs that surpass existing treatments. There are over 500 new drug clinical trials registered on the U.S. clinical trial database alone.

An Aprogen representative stated, “We expect our substances to deliver superior therapeutic effects even with lower dosages and longer dosing intervals compared to existing treatments. Considering the importance of this therapeutic market, we are actively expanding our retinal disease treatment pipeline in addition to our core areas of immuno-oncology and degenerative arthritis treatment pipelines.”

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