Cellivery Announces Efficacy of Ocular Autoimmune Disease Treatment 'iCP-NI' at JP Morgan Conference

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Cellivery announced on the 15th that it presented the therapeutic efficacy results of iCP-NI for uveitis, an autoimmune disease occurring in ocular tissues, at the 2021 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPMHC). iCP-NI is currently being developed in the United States as an innate immune regulatory immunotherapy for novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Uveitis is an immune disease characterized by inflammation of the uveal tissues surrounding the eye (iris, ciliary body, choroid). When inflammation occurs, it can damage almost all critical eye tissues including the surrounding retina, sclera, as well as the lens and cornea, potentially leading to blindness. It is an intractable autoimmune chronic inflammatory disease that is difficult to cure and prone to continuous relapse.

A Cellivery official stated, “In ocular tissues of a uveitis disease model induced by inflammatory responses, iCP-NI demonstrated strong innate immune regulatory anti-inflammatory therapeutic efficacy by reducing interleukin-17 (IL-17), a potent inflammatory cytokine that causes uveitis,” adding, “It was proven to restore the thickened retinal tissue caused by inflammation and to reconstruct the disrupted structures of the outer and inner granular layers.” He continued, “iCP-NI is currently under nonclinical and clinical development as an ophthalmic solution drug for the treatment of uveitis.”

Most treatments for uveitis use steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, but in moderate to severe cases, treatment is very difficult as it requires injecting a needle into the eye to reduce inflammation. According to the company, iCP-NI suppresses the expression of all inflammatory cytokines that cause inflammation and kill surrounding cells, as well as all chemokines that activate inflammation-inducing immune cells, thereby blocking the autoimmune disease system that attacks the body’s normal cells and tissues, controlling excessive immune responses, and reducing severe inflammation.

CEO Cho Dae-woong explained, “At the JP Morgan event, we discussed joint development and licensing of iCP-NI as a COVID-19 treatment with global pharmaceutical companies from the United States and Europe,” adding, “We also explained multiple autoimmune disease indications currently under development, so there will likely be discussions one way or another.”