Acucela Inc. and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. have announced that they have received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ACU-4429, an investigational oral treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD). The FDA's Fast Track programs are designed to facilitate the development and expedite the...

Acucela announced the launch of its ENVISION Clarity Trial, a Phase 2 clinical trial of ACU-4429, an investigational oral treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). ACU-4429 utilizes Acucela's proprietary visual cycle modulation (VCM) technology, and is designed to prevent or inhibit the generation of toxic by-products of the...

Acucela presented new safety, tolerability and effectiveness data on ACU-4429, an investigational therapy for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), at the 2009 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting. Study participants tolerated ACU-4429 well in single-dose tests conducted with healthy volunteers age 55...

An investigational drug called retinylamine slowed the progression of a condition in mice that is very similar to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in humans. The AMD-like condition was triggered in mice by disrupting the removal of all-trans-retinal from the retina. Under normal conditions, the visual pigment 11-cis-retinylidene is...

Acucela and Otsuka Pharmaceutical announced that they have entered into an agreement to co-develop ACU-4429, which is currently in Phase I clinical development for the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the United States. ACU-4429 is small molecule non-retinoid visual cycle modulator. The compound is expected to slow the...