Our Pipeline

ADB-106

Development Program for the Treatment of Severe Chronic Eye Pain

Lasik surgery can sometimes lead to dry eye associated with severe eye pain resulting from nerve damage on the corneal surface from the flap-making procedure 1

ADB-106 is our development program for the treatment of severe chronic eye pain. Our novel, non-opioid JDNI8 rdHSV-CA8* non-toxic gene therapy (ADLR-1001) is designed to treat pain by through application at the pain site, targeting only the sensory neurons involved in the pain signal transmission. This treatment will be non-invasive and applied by an ophthalmologist to the surface of the eye and kept in place for several hours by a contact lens.

Close-up views of a post-LASIK patient’s eye that reveal no signs of ocular surface disease. Nevertheless, the patient is experiencing chronic neuropathic pain.

Severe Chronic Eye Pain

Common causes of chronic eye pain involve medical procedures like LASIK, SMILE, PRK, and cataract/IOL placement surgery.  Eye trauma from accidents may also be a common cause. Dry eye is often another form of chronic neuropathic corneal pain,9-12 that sometimes evolves into a severely painful condition that is very difficult to treat. In most cases, treatment options are very limited, with topical NSAID eye-drops, applied multiple times per day. These eye drops can be toxic to the cornea and only partially effective. Current treatments might help with mild-to-moderate eye pain but are not a solution for the most severe chronic eye pain. Despite normal or relatively normal vision, in severe cases, patients may have their eye patched, and some cases eye removal (enucleation) is warranted.

 

Each year, about 135,000 cataract and laser vision correction patients suffer from severe chronic eye pain following procedure2,3,4,5,6​

    • About 833,000 vision corrective laser procedures are performed annually in the US2
    • A 2023 study found that 11% still has moderate-to-severe eye pain (pain score 3 or higher) 3-6 months post procedure3
    • Approximately 3.5 million cataract surgeries are performed in the US each year4​
    • In a 2018 study it was found that ~10% of cataract surgery patients has severe dry-eye5
    • A 2020 study found that 13% of severe Dry-eye patients suffers from severe eye pain6
    • Enucleation (Eye removal) Rate is about 2.8 per 100,000, amounting to approximately 10,000/year in the US7, of which about 20% is due to severe eye pain8

    1.htps://reviewofophthalmology.com
    2.https://americanrefractivesurgerycouncil.org
    3.Betz et.al. (2023), Ophthalmology
    4.American Academy of Ophthalmology
    5.Iglesias et al. Cornea. 2018 Jul;37(7):893–898. doi: 10.1097/ICO.0000000000001491
    6.Sayegh, Ophthalmology Oct 2020 (cleveland clinic website)
    7.Toiv et al.;ClinOphthalmol, Oct.2022
    8.Thaugh (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjopt.2019.07.009

     

     

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