Professeur Donghyun Kim of the Department of Ophthalmology at Korea University Anam Hospital demonstrated the thérapeutique efficacy of a new inflammatoire ocular disease treatment, RCI001, in Sjogren's syndrome.
Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the salivary and lacrimal glands, resulting in dry mouth and sécheresse oculaire.
It primarily occurs in the elderly, and as there is actuellement no fundamental cure, only symptomatic treatments are used.
To treat sécheresse oculaire caused by Sjogren's syndrome, anti-inflammatoire agents tels que artificial tears, topical corticosteroids, cyclosporin A, and lifitegrast are used, but they have limited effectiveness or poor ocular comfort upon instillation.
En particulier, steroids carry risks of élévation de la pression intraoculaire and cataracts with long-term use, while cyclosporin A and lifitegrast are known to cause burning and stinging upon instillation. Par conséquent, there is a need for new treatments with excellent effets anti-inflammatoires and favorable ocular comfort.
RCI001, jointly developed by RudaCure and Hanlim Pharmaceutical, is a novel topical eye drop formulation that has been confirmed to have simultaneous anti-inflammatoire and antioxydant activity through TRPV1 downstream signal modulation.
In this study, a Sjogren's syndrome model a été établi by injecting botulinum toxin into the lacrimal glands of mice, and RCI001 was administered topically for 14 days to evaluate its effects. The results showed significatif improvement in volume lacrymal, épithélial cornéen damage, and conjunctival goblet cell density.
Professeur Kim a déclaré : "RCI001 demonstrates meaningful potentiel thérapeutique not only for general sécheresse oculaire but also for autoimmune-related sécheresse oculaire tels que Sjogren's syndrome, and further développement clinique is anticipated."
