Development of an in vitro assay to evaluate veterinary ophthalmologic therapies.

治疗狗眼病的兽药在整个北美都是一个庞大且不断增长的市场。眼病在动物中很常见，有效的医疗管理往往需要用特定的药物反复治疗。新药的开发是未来市场增长的一个关键领域，具有在制药、制造和销售/营销方面为加拿大人提供高价值就业机会的巨大潜力。随着新疗法的发展和实施，兽医诊所的增长也可能带来显著的经济效益。目前，新型兽药的开发在一定程度上受到非侵入性（即非侵入性）技术相对缺乏的制约。没有实际的动物试验)方法来评估候选药物是否会损害狗眼细胞，以及这些药物是否有效。如果这项提议获得成功，将寻求开发使用先前分离的培养角膜细胞的检测方法，通过这种方法，可以很容易地确定未来眼科药物（正在开发或已经用于人类）的安全性和有效性，而无需侵入性测试。细胞将在培养皿中以模仿正常狗角膜的结构和功能的方式生长。培养物将受到物理或化学的侮辱，以模拟狗自然遭受的伤害或疾病。然后用不同的试验药物处理培养物，以确定愈合的速度和质量是否得到改善，以及候选药物治疗是否会进一步损害细胞。开发一种用于评估犬眼药物的有效检测方法将大大提高行业合作伙伴（默克）开发药物的潜力，并可能大大提高加拿大在这一市场领域的参与度。

Veterinary drugs to treat eye diseases in dogs represent a large and growing market sector throughout North America. Eye problems are common in animals, and effective medical management of these conditions often requires repeated treatment with specific medications. The development of new medications is a key area for future market growth with significant potential to provide high-value employment opportunities for Canadians in pharmacy, manufacturing and sales/marketing. Significant economic benefits are also likely to accrue through growth at veterinary clinics following the development and implementation of new therapies. Presently, the development of new veterinary drugs is hampered to some extent by the relative lack of non-invasive (ie. without actual animal testing) methods to assess whether cells from the dog eye will be damaged by candidate drugs, and whether such drugs will be effective. This proposal, if successful, will seek to develop assays using cultured corneal cells isolated previously, with which the safety and effectiveness of prospective eye medications (under development or already in use in humans) can be easily determined without invasive testing. Cells will be grown in culture dishes in a manner that mimics the structure and function of the normal dog cornea. The cultures will be subjected to physical or chemical insults that model the types of injuries or diseases suffered naturally by dogs. The cultures will then be treated with different test medications to determine whether or not the rate and quality of healing is improved, and whether the cells are further damaged by the candidate drug treatment. The development of an effective assay for the assessment of eye drugs in dogs should significantly enhance the potential for drug development by the industry partner (Merck) and could substantially enhance Canadian participation in this market sector.