Promising breakthroughs in healthcare

Focused on saving sight and improving eye care Oculis has developed a highly differentiated clinical-stage pipeline comprising multiple candidates in development for eye diseases of high unmet need. Its OCS-01 eye drops, a topical candidate in Phase 3 development for diabetic macular edema (DME) and inflammation and pain following ocular surgery, has delivered positive results in Stage 1 of the Phase 3 DIAMOND trial. The results showed that the trial met primary and secondary endpoints with robust statistical significance and achieved its objective of confirming the loading and maintenance dose to be tested in Stage 2 of the trial.

Specifically, the trial met its primary endpoint, showing a statistically significant improvement in Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) in patients treated with OCS-01versus vehicle-treated patients at Week, which was sustained through Week 12. The positive results support the progression of the DIAMOND program, with two parallel 52-week global Phase 3 trials. If approved, OCS-01 has the potential to become the first topical eye drop for the treatment of DME and address the current treatment gap by providing a non-invasive therapeutic option.

Positive results for Samantree’s Histlog
SamanTree Medical is specializing in innovative solutions to improve cancer treatment. The company developed a breakthrough medical imaging modality that enables new medical procedures to improve cancer treatment. The Histolog^® Scanner (CE marked) allows for high-resolution imaging of the surface of fresh tissue. This new imaging modality is based on a novel ultra-fast confocal microscopy technology. It offers clinicians real-time assessment of fresh tissue; the clinician is one touch on the screen away from visualizing cancerous cells immediately during surgery. The closed clinical trial in RARP, lung biopsy, breast-conserving surgery, and brain cancer surgery closed on a positive note. The system was shown for each indication to enable the physician to perform real-time assessment during surgery, providing the surgeon with a high confidence level in distinguishing healthy vs. tumorous tissue.

• RARP: Observational study (50 patients) with blind assessment that showed high performances comparable to NeuroSAFE but with drastic time reduction.
• Breast: Presentation of a breast atlas that was developed to train clinicians utilizing the company’s proprietary AI algorithm. The images were obtained rapidly and relevant histopathological criteria, such as tissue architecture and cell features, were clearly observable to identify healthy or cancerous tissue.
• Lung biopsy: Feasibility study showing impressive synergy with Next Generation Sequencing to ensure rapid identification of high cellularity tumor regions, complementing molecular profiling seamlessly. In the case presented, the cancer diagnosis timeframe was reduced from 5-7 days to 2-6 hours.
• Brain surgery: In this exploratory study, out of 50 diverse cases, the Histolog Scanner consistently allowed to identify abnormal versus normal tissue, often being the sole diagnostic tool required.

Adiposs completes first clinical trial
Adiposs,  a Swiss biotech company developing medical imaging products and technologies has completed the Phase I clinical trial of its flagship product, ImageBAT, the first product to allow non-invasive visualization and quantification of activated brown fat. Activated brown fat causes hypermetabolism, which is correlated to treatment failure in cancer patients. The company’s IBT-001 first-human trial had thirty healthy subjects that were given single ascending doses of ImageBAT™ or placebo. The product shows good tolerability and safety with no serious or severe adverse events observed. Upon approval, ImageBAT™ will allow early identification of patients who are likely to respond to cancer immunotherapy. The diagnostic procedure with ImageBAT will be simple, non-invasive and cost-effective: patients will simply drink ImageBAT before their routinely planned medical scan. It will be used as an add-on product to the standard oncology CT scan that cancer patients have to follow the course of their disease.

(Press release/RAN)