102865soloMER™ Biologics: Next-generation therapeutics for the site-specific treatment of ocular diseasesClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKElasmogen’s technology is a unique soloMER™ drug platform exploiting the power of proteins (biologics) as drugs but in small, simple and stable formats. Elasmogen have a pipeline of products in pre-clinical development for the treatment of inflammatory diseases of the eye. Current first-line therapies for these diseases are corticosteroids, but up to one third of patients fail to respond with many more suffering side-effects and the real risk of going blind. The use of targeted protein-based approaches have shown benefits, and particularly in this group of unresponsive patients. There remain however, significant efficacy limitations to the current use of biologics. Their large molecular weight and “fragile nature” limits routes of drug administration to injection into the blood stream or directly into the eye. This funding will progress our existing “next-generation” biologic therapies that, despite their size, are potently anti-inflammatory but are also stable, soluble and therefore amenable to non-invasive, site-specific, topical delivery (eg modified eye drops).