CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03144999Updated Mar 30, 2025

Treatment of Advanced Dry Age Related Macular Degeneration With AAVCAGsCD59

A Phase 1 interventional study of AAVCAGsCD59 in Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration, sponsored by Janssen Research & Development, LLC. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 50 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-03-30.

Sponsored by Janssen Research & Development, LLC · Phase 1, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was Dec 2017, 8 years 10 months ago, and no results have been posted to the registry.
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
17
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
50 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in individuals over age 60. AMD is classified as wet and dry. Wet AMD constitutes 10 to 15% of all cases of AMD and occurs when an abnormal blood vessel grows in or under the retina leading to central vision loss. Wet AMD is successfully treated with injections in the eye on a monthly basis that stop the blood vessel from growing and leaking. The most common form of AMD is the dry variant or dry AMD that affects 85 to 90% of all patients with AMD. In dry AMD, there is loss of retinal pigment, formation of deposits called drusen, and loss of the vessels in a layer of the retina called the choriocapillaris. In the most severe forms of dry AMD there is loss of retinal tissue called geographic atrophy. Over time retinal tissue degenerates in the area responsible for central vision leading to vision loss leading to legal blindness. Currently no treatment for dry AMD exists so that there is a significant unmet need in patients with this ocular disease.

Recently, evidence has implicated an overactive inflammatory cascade called the complement system as playing a pivotal role in the development of dry AMD. The complement cascade consists of 3 arms that converge to form a pore-like complex on the surface of cells called the membrane attack complex (MAC). Accumulation of MAC on cell surfaces leads to cell damage and death causing the clinical findings seen in AMD. Normal cells within the human body produce a protein on their cell surfaces called CD59 that blocks the MAC from forming. In AMD, the complement cascade is upregulated and leads to more MAC formation than the body can protect itself against leading to cell destruction.

AAVCAGsCD59, an ocular gene therapy product that is injected in to the eye in the physician's office, causes normal retinal cells to increase the expression of a soluble form of CD59 (sCD59). This soluble recombinant version of the naturally occurring CD59 is designed and intended to protect retinal cells that are responsible for central vision by inhibiting the formation of the membrane attack complex (MAC), the terminal step of complement-mediated cell lysis. In gene therapy the cells of the retina are potentially permanently altered to make sCD59 for the life of the patient. With gene therapy only one injection is needed for the drug to be effective for the patient's entire life. This study will evaluate the safety after a single injection of AAVCAGsCD59 administered in an office setting for patients whose enrolled eye has advanced dry AMD with geographic atrophy. The initial study is 26 weeks followed by an additional 18-month safety evaluation.

02

Conditions studied

  • Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration

Keywords

  • Dry AMD
  • Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration
  • Gene Therapy
  • Complement
  • Intravitreal Injection
  • Geographic Atrophy
  • Drusen
  • Membrane Attack Complex
  • CD59
03

In context

Macular Degeneration

1,474 studies on the registry are indexed under Macular Degeneration; 206 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 17 is below the median of 51 across 985 interventional studies indexed under Macular Degeneration.

Browse Macular Degeneration studies →

Lead sponsor

Janssen Research & Development, LLC is the lead sponsor of 912 studies on the registry; 76 are open to participants now.

Of its 278 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 131 (47%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
50 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Men or women 50 years of age or older
  • Advanced dry AMD with GA in the study eye
  • BCVA Snellen equivalent of 20/80 or worse in the study eye using ETDRS charts at a starting distance of 4m after the first 3 patients are enrolled and demonstrate favorable safety data
  • Total GA lesion size 5mm2 (2 DA) to 20mm2 (8 DA) in the study eye; if multifocal, then at least one focus of GA needs to measure 1.27 mm2 (0.5 DA)
  • Fellow eye BCVA of 20/800 or better and must be the eye with the better visual acuity
  • Must be willing to undergo paracentesis of the anterior chamber

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • GA secondary to non AMD etiologies
  • Prior or active choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in the study eye
  • History of conditions in the study eye during screening which might alter visual acuity or interfere with study testing
  • Active uncontrolled glaucoma
  • Intraocular surgery in the study eye within 3 months of enrollment or are known or likely candidate for intraocular surgery (including cataract surgery) in the study eye within 1 year of treatment
  • Acute or chronic infection in the study eye
  • History of inflammation in the study eye or ongoing inflammation in either eye
  • History of uveitis in the study eye
  • Ongoing ocular inflammation in either eye
  • Any contraindication to intravitreal injection
  • Currently using or have used treatment for exudative AMD in the study eye only: laser photocoagulation, photodynamic therapy (PDT), ranibizumab (Lucentis®), pegaptanib sodium (Macugen®), bevacizumab (Avastin®) or aflibercept (Eylea®)
  • Currently using any periocular (study eye), intravitreal (study eye) or systemic (oral or intravenous) corticosteroids within 3 months prior to screening.
  • Any of the following underlying systemic diseases:

    • Unstable or severe cardiovascular disease, e.g., congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association Functional class III or IV), myocardial infarction within 6 months, ventricular tachyarrhythmias requiring ongoing treatment, unstable angina, or critical limb ischemia;
    • Poorly controlled diabetes;
    • Clinically significant impaired renal or hepatic function, for example:
    • Cerebrovascular disease within 12 months prior to Screening;
    • Dementia or neurodegenerative disease (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease);
    • Have a malignancy at Screening or a history of malignancy that precludes completion of this 2-year study, including presence of tumor or disease whose treatment may directly affect the ability to evaluate the safety and efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59, or currently undergoing treatment for a specific cancer;
    • Immunocompromised conditions and/or need for immunosuppressive therapy;
  • Any significant poorly controlled illness that would preclude study compliance and follow-up
  • Current or prior use of any medication known to be toxic to the retina or optic nerve including, but not limited, to chloroquine/hydrochloroquine, deferoxamine, phenothiazines and ethambutol
  • Previous treatment with any ocular or systemic gene transfer product
  • Received any investigational product within 120 days prior to screening
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
17 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Low Dose

    AAVCAGsCD59

    Biological: AAVCAGsCD59

  • Experimental
    Mid Dose

    AAVCAGsCD59

    Biological: AAVCAGsCD59

  • Experimental
    High Dose

    AAVCAGsCD59

    Biological: AAVCAGsCD59

Interventions

  • BiologicalAAVCAGsCD59

    AAVCAGsCD59 is administered as a single intravitreal injection in an office setting

    Also known as: HMR59

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of participants experiencing ocular and systemic adverse events as graded by CTCAE v4.0

    Measure intraocular inflammation, ocular changes and systemic side effects following a single intraocular injection of AAVCAGsCD59

    Time frame: 26 Weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Evaluate the change in area of GA in eyes with dry AMD

    Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59

    Time frame: 26 Weeks

  2. Evaluate the rate of growth of GA in eyes with dry AMD

    Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59

    Time frame: 26 Weeks

  3. Incidence of conversion of dry AMD to wet AMD

    Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59

    Time frame: 26 Weeks

  4. Change in drusen volume measured by spectral domain OCT

    Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59

    Time frame: 26 Weeks

  5. Prevention of loss of 15 or more letters on an ETDRS visual acuity chart

    Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59

    Time frame: 26 Weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 30, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03144999
Lead sponsor
Janssen Research & Development, LLC
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 9, 2017
Start date
Mar 29, 2017
Primary completion
Dec 6, 2017
Completion
Dec 9, 2019
Last update
Mar 30, 2025

Study contacts

Jeff Heier, MD
principal investigator · Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion