Market Assessment - Strategic assessment of injectable, in situ gelling materials for ocular drug delivery

随着人口老龄化，眼部疾病变得越来越普遍；然而，它们仍然是出了名的难以治疗。例如，年龄相关性黄斑变性（AMD）影响了超过140万加拿大人，是加拿大视力丧失的主要原因。虽然抗vegf药物（一类特殊药物）的出现显著改善了许多此类患者的预后和结果，但它们需要每一到两个月进行眼内注射以保持其有效性。同样，导致失明的第二大原因青光眼要求患者坚持每天多次滴眼液，这使得患者难以遵守。然而，如果这些情况发展为视力丧失，患者在日常活动中需要更多的帮助，抑郁和焦虑的发生率很高，跌倒的风险增加一倍；这一切都导致他们的生活质量大幅下降。我们提出了一种新的输送系统，可以针对各种情况使用不同的治疗方法。这将使治疗从每月一次减少到两年一次，增加患者的安全性和便利性，并减轻医疗保健系统的负担。我们请求资金来完成一项市场评估，以确定哪种眼病最适合最初的开发，这将使我们能够为成功的技术转让和商业化制定商业计划。

Diseases in the eye are becoming increasingly common as the population ages; however, they remain notoriously difficult to treat. For instance, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affects over 1.4 million Canadians and is the leading cause of vision loss in Canada. While the advent of anti-VEGF agents, a specific class of drugs, has significantly improved the prognosis and outcomes for many of these patients, they require intraocular injections every one to two months to maintain their effectiveness. Similarly, glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness, requires patients to adhere to a challenging regime of eye drops multiple times each day, causing patients to struggle with compliance. Yet, if these conditions progress to vision loss, patients have been shown to require greater assistance with daily activities, suffer high incidences of depression and anxiety, and have twice the risk of falls; this all results in a substantial decrease in their quality of life. We propose a new delivery system that would work with different therapeutics for a variety of conditions. This would reduce treatments from monthly to bi-annually, increasing both safety and convenience for patients and reducing the burden on the healthcare system. We request funds to complete a Market Assessment to determine which ocular disease condition is best suited to initial development, which will allow us to then create a business plan for successful technology transfer and commercialization.