Creating Therapies for Incurable Diseases: In Conversation with Dr Jogin Desai of Eyestem

Eyestem, a Bengaluru-based cell therapy company, is aiming to treat eye diseases that were deemed incurable. At Eyestem, a team of clinical research, regenerative medicine and ophthalmology experts has developed Eyecyte-RPE to treat Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). The cell therapy company is expected to start human trials for this innovative product next year. Mohammed Rayees ur Rahim of Sakshi Post caught up with Dr Jogin Desai, CEO & Co-founder, Eyestem, to know more about their highly promising treatment and much more.

1.How did the cell therapy company - Eyestem come into existence?

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jogin Desai  met Rajani Battu, a senior ophthalmologist, in 2014 for a medical consultation. Both saw cell and gene therapy as the next frontier of medical innovation and the eye being the prime target for these therapies. They discussed that the approach taken by the western companies will result in therapies that will cost more than $400,000 per injection. They felt this was the right time to disrupt the field and hence Eyestem was born.

2.How does cell and gene therapy work in restoring a person’s eyesight?

The company aims to create therapies for incurable diseases of the world, one disease at a time. The modus operandi is to replace the cells that are lost in the disease through cells generated in the lab. Its allogeneic therapy ensures that the same product can be used to treat many patients thereby achieving the scale needed to transform the lives of patients in India and abroad. For the eye, please see answer below.

3.Tell us about your flagship product Eyecyte-RPE and is it helping to treat eye diseases that were deemed incurable?

Dry AMD affects 170 million people worldwide, 40 million of whom are in India. Wet AMD is treatable and the market for drugs to treat Wet AMD is $ 8.9 B. Dry AMD incidence is 9 times that of wet AMD. EyeCyte-RPE replaces lost retinal pigment epithelium cells and is designed to restore sight for patients in the early stages of Age-Related Macular Degeneration and arrest losses for those in the later stages. Around 17 Crore people globally (1.5-4 Crore in India) suffer from this incurable disease and the company is one of six players globally developing this solution.

4.How effective Eyecyte-RPE is in the treatment of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)?

The company has received excellent safety and efficacy data in animal studies done at its collaborator – the Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, USA.  The product has been injected in rats with the same disease and have proven that the disease is arrested in the rats. As per OHSU, the product helps rescue vision and help retain the structural integrity of the retina and is a highly promising treatment as of this stage.

5.Can cell and gene therapy help people with inherited blindness restore their vision?

It is early days to answer the question whether cell and gene therapy can restore vision. There have been some reports of patients being able to see more letters on the Eye chart but this is preliminary data and needs to be analyzed with caution. It is much more possible that cell and gene therapy can help treat patients at a point before they progress to vision loss and help slow down or arrest the progression of the disease.

6.Would you like to share a success story of Eyecyte-RPE?

Our collaborators at Oregon health and Science University, based on animal experiments that they have done, have opined that Eyecyte-RPE is one of the most promising treatments that have the potential to treat Dry AMD. They compared published results of other companies in the same field with ours and arrived at that conclusion.

7.You’re talking about a medical innovation, what is your vision for creating a scalable cell therapy platform?

We are a cell therapy company aiming to cure currently incurable diseases of the eye and beyond. It is estimated that cell therapy products will cost more than $ 450,000 per injection globally and Eyestem’s mission is to democratize access to such products by bringing the cost down to less than 1/50 th  of that cost. We will use our proprietary iCelldiff protocol to create any cell of the body through a process that is repeatable, scalable and hence affordable.

The company aims to create therapies for incurable diseases of the world, one disease at a time. The modus operandi is to replace the cells that are lost in the disease through cells generated in the lab. Its allogeneic therapy ensures that the same product can be used to treat many patients thereby achieving the scale needed to transform the lives of patients in India and abroad.

8.What are your plans to make the cell therapy affordable for patients with degenerative diseases of the eye?

Our proprietary iCellDiff protocol allows us to create cells at scale and drive down the costs significantly. We anticipate being able to launch our first product at 1/50 th the cost of similar products worldwide while still maintaining highest standards of quality. We are also exploring the use of artificial intelligence in bringing greater predictability to our protocol thereby driving down costs.

9.When can we expect the commercialization of this innovative treatment?

We will benefit from a fast track approach by the regulatory authorities since this is a disease that has a huge unmet need and are closely working with the Indian regulators to get this product to market as fast as possible while maintaining the highest standards of safety and quality.

We will start human trials for this product next year and will be in a better position to predict a commercialization timeline by the end of next year.