Bringing a Liquid Cornea for treating corneal blindness into the clinic

失明是大多数人最大的恐惧。当透明的正面 由于受伤或疾病，眼睛失去了清晰度。我们开发了一种“液态角膜” 这是一种修复角膜的新方法而不是依靠移植， 捐赠组织严重短缺，加拿大人在一些省份等待2-3 年的手术，我们建议填补穿孔角膜或角膜需要更换， 通过前板层移植，用基于生物材料的制剂制成前组织 胶原蛋白样肽。然而，为了使其实际用于临床，我们必须开发 一种类似于螺旋桨的输送系统，允许外科医生混合制剂， 在几分钟内申请。此外，对于患有严重疾病/损伤的患者，我们需要阻断 炎症和疤痕，以恢复视力。我们的研究策略是将 我们的合作伙伴Birch已经在临床试验中成功测试了抗疤痕药物 将生物材料植入我们的液态角膜，并通过我们的快速重建交付交付 设备（R2D2），并使用与我们的合作伙伴开发的光学设备在小型猪中进行测试， WinTerra Global.该项目的成功完成将使我们能够申请监管 首次人体临床试验的批准使用液态角膜代替目前的 供体组织移植将潜在地允许治疗大部分的 目前有1270万患者仍在等待角膜移植， 短缺。R2D2系统将有可能治疗溃疡或穿孔， 眼科医生的诊所，而不是一个手术室，需要捐赠者 移植，导致更快的愈合时间为患者和医疗保健节省。

Going blind is a top fear of most people. Corneal blindness occurs when the transparent front of the eye loses it clarity due to injury or disease. We have developed a "Liquid Cornea", which is basically a new way to repair corneas. Instead of relying on transplantation with donor tissues, which are in severe short supply with Canadian in some provinces waiting 2-3 years for surgery, we propose to fill perforated corneas or corneas needing replacement of the front tissues by anterior lamellar grafting, with a biomaterials-based formulation made from collagen-like peptides. However, to make it practical for clinical use, we have to develop a syringe-like delivery system that would allow the surgeon to mix up the formulation and apply within minutes. Also, for patients with severe disease/damage, we need to block the inflammation and scarring in order to restore vision. Our research strategy is to incorporate an anti-scarring drug that is already successfully tested in clinical trials by our partner Birch Biomed into our Liquid Cornea and deliver this through our Rapid Reconstitution Delivery Device (R2D2) and test it in mini-pigs using optical equipment developed with our partner, WinTerra Global. Successful completion of this project will allow us to apply for regulatory approval for a first-in-human clinical trial. The use of the Liquid Cornea instead of current donor tissue transplants will potentially allow for treatment of a significant proportion of the current 12.7 million patients still awaiting cornea transplantation due to the donor tissue shortfall. The R2D2 system will potentially allow for treatment of ulcers or perforations in ophthalmologists' clinics instead of an operating room that is needed for donor transplantation, resulting in faster healing time for patients and healthcare savings.