Dazdotuftide Offers Potential for Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration Treatment

The small synthetic molecule dazdotuftide is a novel multitarget therapeutic candidate for suppressing inflammation in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR), diabetic macular edema (DME), and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a review article published in Biomedicines.

“Inflammation is a major pathway in the pathogenesis of DR/DME, atrophic AMD, and neovascular AMD. Corticosteroids are the only anti-inflammatory compounds approved for the treatment of DR/DME, and anti-complement biologics are the only approved therapy for atrophic AMD,” wrote authors from the ophthalmology department at Hadassah—Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.

While anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) compounds can be effective for the treatment of DR/DME and neovascular AMD, they are ineffective for atrophic AMD, the authors explained.

Dazdotuftide combines several functions that could offer additional advantage in the management of DR/DME and AMD, such as VEGF and toll-like receptor (TLR) inhibition and M1 to M2 macrophage polarization, according to the article.

“Targeting TLR, an upstream molecule implicated in the pathogenesis of these posterior ocular pathologies, may also yield better durability of the therapeutic effect, with a lower intravitreal injection frequency required than the current anti-VEGF therapies,” the authors wrote. “Additionally, dazdotuftide may be formulated as a slow-release implant, thereby further reducing treatment burden and increasing patient compliance, which is a crucial factor for successful treatment in chronic conditions such as DR/DME and neovascular AMD.”

The review called for clinical trials to test the usefulness of dazdotuftide for the management of DR/DME and AMD.

Reference

Vofo BN, Chowers I. Suppressing inflammation for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration: dazdotuftide as a potential new multitarget therapeutic candidate. Biomedicines. 2023;11(6):1562. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11061562