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
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.
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 →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.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Any of the following underlying systemic diseases:
AAVCAGsCD59
Biological: AAVCAGsCD59
AAVCAGsCD59
Biological: AAVCAGsCD59
AAVCAGsCD59
Biological: AAVCAGsCD59
AAVCAGsCD59 is administered as a single intravitreal injection in an office setting
Also known as: HMR59
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
Evaluate the change in area of GA in eyes with dry AMD
Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59
Time frame: 26 Weeks
Evaluate the rate of growth of GA in eyes with dry AMD
Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59
Time frame: 26 Weeks
Incidence of conversion of dry AMD to wet AMD
Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59
Time frame: 26 Weeks
Change in drusen volume measured by spectral domain OCT
Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59
Time frame: 26 Weeks
Prevention of loss of 15 or more letters on an ETDRS visual acuity chart
Efficacy of AAVCAGsCD59
Time frame: 26 Weeks
Plan to share: No
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This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Janssen Research & Development, LLC