Stuart Therapeutics, a development stage pharmaceutical company based in the United States, has recently completed its first Phase 3 trial of ST-100 (Vezocolmitide), a novel topical therapeutic for the treatment of dry eye disease. ST-100 is based on the Company’s patented Polycol™ platform, a large set of collagen mimetic peptides (CMPs) recognized as a new drug class to mitigate collagen damage within the extracellular matrix (ECM).
Collagen has a critical role in the anterior segment of the eye and supporting the ECM, offering structural support and enabling health cell signaling. Helical collagen structures are subject to normal degradation and regeneration as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) cleave the helical structure. However, inflammation increases cytokines, resulting in upregulation of MMPs and acceleration of the cleavage of helical collagen. This leads to degradation of collagen, reduces tissue integrity, and interrupts cell signaling and homeostatic cellular function. Ultimately this can result in damage to the epithelium and basement membrane, and promotion of inflammation. This process leads to disease states such as dry eye disease, and the associated symptoms and discomfort.
CMPs selectively bind to damaged sites within the helical structure of collagen present in the anterior segment. By replacing the damaged collagen segments, CMPs can repair the collagen structures, enabling the restoration of normal cellular function, reducing inflammation, and promoting a return to homeostasis and mitigation of the disease state. This therapeutic is fundamentally different than currently approved dry eye therapeutics and has the potential to provide a novel approach to a broad range of anterior and posterior ophthalmic diseases.