Pipeline
ASP5006
Wet age-related macular degeneration is a disease of the choroidal neovascularization of the eye. It is more likely to occur in elderly people over 50 years old. It is a common cause of vision deterioration and blindness in the elderly. The current clinical treatment method is to use intraocular injection of anti-angiogenic drugs, such as the ophthalmic drugs ranibizumab (Lucentis®) and aflibercept (Eylea®), to shrink the choroidal new blood vessels and improve the patient's vision. Based on estimates of drug sales of existing clinical treatments, the global market sales of wet age-related macular degeneration in 2021 will exceed US$12 billion.
Although intraocular injection of anti-angiogenic drugs is currently the first choice for the treatment of macular degeneration, 10-30% of patients still do not respond well to this drug treatment, and these patients urgently need novel therapeutic drugs to avoid vision degradation leading to blindness. . For wet age-related macular degeneration that does not respond well to treatment, new drug developers are focusing on developing new drug therapies to overcome the dilemma of patients without available drugs.
Our company's DSG2 peptide drug ASP5006 can not only block angiogenesis caused by blood vessels caused by non-VEGF pathways. In monkey animal experiments on laser-induced choroidal angiogenesis, the treatment results showed that it can effectively inhibit fundus angiogenesis. ASP5006 is currently developing a sustained-release dosage form for intraocular injection, and plans to invest in research on delivery technology for eye drops in the future. According to the company's research results, ASP5006 has the opportunity to help patients with wet age-related macular degeneration who are refractory to current treatments and improve their vision.
ASP4755
The latest 2019 cancer registration report shows that head and neck cancer ranks the third most common cancer among men in Taiwan and the fourth most common cancer in men. Head and neck cancer sites include cancers occurring in the paranasal sinuses, nasopharynx, nasal cavity, oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx and salivary glands. Current treatments for head and neck cancer include surgical resection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy or a combination of them. The above therapies. For advanced head and neck cancer, the main treatment modality is the use of cetuximab (Erbitux®), a monoclonal antibody targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), in combination with chemotherapy.
According to clinical treatment and experimental research by Dr. Yang Muhua from the Department of Hematology and Oncology, Taipei Wing General Hospital, approximately 40% of patients with advanced head and neck cancer respond to cetuximab, and patients will gradually develop drug resistance after 3 to 6 months of treatment, resulting in The cause of secondary drug resistance is LTβ expression. The company has confirmed in animal experiments that the peptide drug ASP4755 targeting LTβ, when used in combination with the targeted drug Erbitux®, can effectively inhibit the growth of drug-resistant head and neck cancer cells and prolong the survival rate of experimental animals.
