Safety and Efficacy Study of OpRegen for Treatment of Advanced Dry-Form Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
The main objective of the study is evaluation of the safety and tolerability of OpRegen - human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial (RPE)cells. The study will also include initial exploration of the ability of transplanted OpRegen cells to engraft, survive, and moderate disease progression.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
Phase 1/Phase 2 |
Detailed Description
OpRegen® is a cell-based product composed of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and administered as a cell suspension either in ophthalmic Balanced Salt Solution Plus (BSS Plus) or in CryoStor® 5 (Thaw-and-Inject, TAI).
This is a Phase I/IIa, dose-escalation, evaluating safety and tolerability of OpRegen transplantation to patients with progressive dry-AMD. The study includes also initial exploration of efficacy.
A total of approximately 24 subjects will be enrolled. The subjects should be 50 years of age and older, with non-neovascular (dry) AMD, who have funduscopic findings of GA in the macula, with absence of additional concomitant ocular disorders.
The subjects will be divided into four cohorts, according to their best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and administered OpRegen dose.
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: OpRegen Up to 12 legally blind subjects with best corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or less in first three cohorts and 12 subjects with best corrected visual acuity of 20/64 and 20/250 in fourth cohort |
Biological: OpRegen
Targeted dose of 50,000 - 200,000 cells will be delivered into the subretinal space
|
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- Incidence and frequency of treatment emergent adverse events [12 months post transplantation]
The AE's will be graded using NCI's CTCAE v 3.0
- Treatment emergent changes of clinical and ophthalmological parameters [12 months post transplantation]
The parameters will be measured via different modalities, such as vital signs and ocular imaging and captured as adverse events
Secondary Outcome Measures
- Change in GA lesion area [12 months post transplantation]
Measurement of change in GA lesion area will be performed based on available imaging data by a central reading center.
- Change in visual acuity [12 months post transplantation]
Change in visual acuity will be measured by ETDRS chart
- Change in Quality of Life [12 months post transplantation]
Change in NEI VFQ-25 Quality of Life score will be measured from baseline
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
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Age 50 and older;
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Diagnosis of dry (non-neovascular) age related macular degeneration in both eyes;
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Funduscopic findings of dry AMD with progressive geographic atrophy in the macula;
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Best corrected central visual acuity equal or less than 20/200 in cohorts 1-3 and 20/64-20/250 in cohort 4 in the study eye by ETDRS vision testing;
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Vision in the non-operated eye must be better than or equal to that in the operated eye;
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Subjects with sufficiently good health to allow participation in all study-related procedures and complete the study follow up period (medical records);
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Ability to undergo a vitreoretinal surgical procedure under monitored anesthesia care;
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Blood counts, blood chemistry, coagulation and urinalysis without abnormal significance;
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Negative for TB (cohort 4), HIV, HBC, and HCV, negative for CMV IgM and EBV IgM;
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Patients with no history of malignancy (other than a non-melanoma skin cancer). For cancers in remission for more then 5 years enrollment is allowed with concurred documented approval of principal investigator and oncologist prior to enrollment;
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Willing to defer all future blood and tissue donation;
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Able to understand and willing to sign informed consent.
Exclusion Criteria:
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Evidence of neovascular AMD by history, as well as by clinical exam, fluorescein angiography (FA), or ocular coherence tomography (OCT) at baseline in either eye;
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History or presence of diabetic retinopathy, vascular occlusions, uveitis, Coat's disease, glaucoma, cataract or media opacity preventing posterior pole visualization or any significant ocular disease other than AMD that has compromised or could compromise vision in the study eye and confound analysis of the primary outcome;
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History of retinal detachment repair in the study eye;
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Axial myopia greater than -6 diopters;
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At least 2 months following cataract removal in the study eye and Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) laser capsulotomy in the study eye in the past 4 weeks and any other ocular surgery in the study eye in the past 3 months prior to implantation;
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History of cognitive impairments or dementia;
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Contraindication for systemic immunosuppression;
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History of any condition other than AMD associated with choroidal neovascularization in the study eye (e.g. pathologic myopia or presumed ocular histoplasmosis);
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Any type of systemic disease or its treatment, in the opinion of the Investigator, including any medical condition (controlled or uncontrolled) that could be expected to progress, recur, or change to such an extent that it may bias the assessment of the clinical status of the patient to a significant degree or put the patient at special risk.
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Female; pregnancy or breastfeeding;
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Current participation in another clinical study. Past participation (within 6 months) in any clinical study of a drug administered systemically or to the eye.
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Currently receiving aspirin, aspirin containing products and/or any other coagulation modifying drugs which cannot be discontinued 7 days prior to surgery;
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History of cancer (other than a non-melanoma skin cancer). For cancers cured more than five years ago, enrollment is allowed with concurred documented approval of principal investigator and oncologist prior to enrollment.
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retina Vitreous Associates Medical Group | Los Angeles | California | United States | 900211 |
| 2 | Byers Eye Institute, Stanford School of Medicine | Palo Alto | California | United States | 94303 |
| 3 | Retinal Consultants Medical Group | Sacramento | California | United States | 95825 |
| 4 | West Coast Retina Medical Group, Inc | San Francisco | California | United States | 94109 |
| 5 | Cincinnati Eye Institute | Cincinnati | Ohio | United States | 45242 |
| 6 | Mid Atlantic Retina | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | United States | 19107 |
| 7 | Hadassah Ein Kerem University Hospital | Jerusalem | Israel | 91120 | |
| 8 | Rabin Medical Center | Petah Tikva | Israel | ||
| 9 | Tel Aviv Souraski Medical Center | Tel Aviv | Israel | 91121 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- Hoffmann-La Roche
- CellCure Neurosciences Ltd.
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Tareq Jaouni, MD, Hadassah Ein Kerem University Hospital, Israel
- Principal Investigator: Rita Ehrlich, MD, Rabin Medical Center, Israel
- Principal Investigator: Adiel Barak, MD, Prof., Tel Aviv Souraski Medical Center, Israel
- Principal Investigator: Richard McDonald, MD, West Coast Retina Medical Group, Inc, USA
- Principal Investigator: David Boyer, MD, Retina Vitreous Associates Medical Group, USA
- Principal Investigator: Diana Do, MD, Prof., Byers Eye Institute, Stanford, USA
- Principal Investigator: David Telander, MD, Retinal Consultants Medical Group, USA
- Principal Investigator: Christopher Riemann, MD, Cincinnati Eye Institute
- Principal Investigator: Allen Ho, Wills Eye Hospital Retina Service
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Publications
- Idelson M, Alper R, Obolensky A, Ben-Shushan E, Hemo I, Yachimovich-Cohen N, Khaner H, Smith Y, Wiser O, Gropp M, Cohen MA, Even-Ram S, Berman-Zaken Y, Matzrafi L, Rechavi G, Banin E, Reubinoff B. Directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into functional retinal pigment epithelium cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2009 Oct 2;5(4):396-408. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2009.07.002.
- McGill TJ, Bohana-Kashtan O, Stoddard JW, Andrews MD, Pandit N, Rosenberg-Belmaker LR, Wiser O, Matzrafi L, Banin E, Reubinoff B, Netzer N, Irving C. Long-Term Efficacy of GMP Grade Xeno-Free hESC-Derived RPE Cells Following Transplantation. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2017 Jun 14;6(3):17. doi: 10.1167/tvst.6.3.17. eCollection 2017 Jun.
- Tannenbaum SE, Turetsky TT, Singer O, Aizenman E, Kirshberg S, Ilouz N, Gil Y, Berman-Zaken Y, Perlman TS, Geva N, Levy O, Arbell D, Simon A, Ben-Meir A, Shufaro Y, Laufer N, Reubinoff BE. Derivation of xeno-free and GMP-grade human embryonic stem cells--platforms for future clinical applications. PLoS One. 2012;7(6):e35325. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0035325. Epub 2012 Jun 20.
- CCN_CT02