pSivida Corp., a leader in developing sustained release, drug delivery products for treatment of back-of-the-eye diseases, has entered into a technology evaluation agreement for its BioErodible Durasert drug delivery technology in ophthalmology with Neuron Systems Inc., an ocular drug development company based in Burlington.

Under this agreement, the companies will evaluate the use of pSivida’s technology as a delivery system for a treatment for dry age related macular degeneration (Dry AMD), a serious retinal disease that afflicts millions of patients worldwide and can lead to blindness.

“While Wet AMD, which affects less than 20 per cent of the population with AMD, is well treated with products such as Genentech’s billion dollar Lucentis and/or Regeneron’s Eylea, there currently is no approved treatment for Dry AMD, a disease which affects far more people,” said Dr Paul Ashton, president and CEO of pSivida. Dr Ashton added, “This is the second tech evaluation agreement pSivida has signed for its bioerodible Durasert technology since pSivida regained the rights to its intellectual property from Pfizer last year.”

“We are very pleased to enter into this technology evaluation agreement with pSivida as we believe the combination of Durasert and our proprietary compounds may provide an exciting new approach to treating this devastating disease,” commented Dr Todd C Brady, CEO of Neuron Systems.

pSivida is also independently developing a product to treat uveitis affecting the posterior segment of the eye (posterior uveitis) and a product to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension in collaboration with Pfizer.

pSivida Corp., is focused on treatment of chronic diseases of the back of the eye utilizing its core technology systems, Durasert and BioSilicon.

Neuron Systems, Inc. (Neuron) is developing treatments for the dry form of age-related macular degeneration, a serious eye disease that may lead to blindness and affects millions of individuals worldwide.