Clinical Need
Regenerative therapy for sightdestroying conditions NuVision Biotherapies is a regenerative company, spun out from the University of Nottingham in 2015, that was established to commercialise clinically available and highly versatile biotherapies for treating ‘front of the eye’ disease and trauma, as well as wider wound care purposes.
T
he company’s platform regenerative therapy, Omnigen, is based on many years of extensive human amniotic membrane (amnion) translation research carried out at the University of Nottingham by NuVision’s founder, and CSO, Dr Andrew Hopkinson.
Omnigen harnesses the natural regenerative properties of amnion, which surrounds babies in the womb and is normally discarded at birth. The healing properties of amnion, which is part of the placenta and is the innermost layer of the sac that surrounds
and nurtures the baby during pregnancy, have long been recognised. It has natural wound healing, anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring properties, and because it is not recognised by the immune system, it can be transplanted to patients with minimum risk of rejection.
Until recently, processing amnion for clinical use involved storing the amnion frozen at -80 degrees. However, freezing damages the tissue and reduces its wound healing properties. The tissue needs to remain frozen until use and delivery can take 24 hours, making it unsuitable for emergency and routine in the office setting.
Omnigen is made from waste tissue given by women undergoing an elective Caesarean section. They are screened for health conditions beforehand and their blood is tested for communicable diseases. The amnion is processed in specialised laboratories, using a process called Tereo, into a dry sterile sheet and cut into discs to be stored. As a dry and stable product, Omnigen can be easily shipped to be used or readily stored at the point of care. Applied directly to the human eye dry, the natural moisture in the eye or wound rehydrates the patch, where it reduces pain, protects against infections and promotes healing.
It allows effective treatment for a range of sight-destroying ocular surface disease, providing comfort for the patient. Conventionally, surgeons suture it to the eye to promote healing and repair defects. Unfortunately, patients therefore still have to wait to be referred for costly surgery to receive this therapy. NuVision’s latest innovation, OmniLenz, overcomes this problem. OmniLenz is a unique and bespoke bandage contact lens that uniquely allows the application Omnigen, in a simple five minute ‘in the office’ procedure, eliminating the need for complex surgery and sutures. With OmniLenz, Omnigen can be routinely applied directly to the eyes of burns or trauma victims, patients enduring persistent corneal ulcers, and now patients suffering inflammatory diseases such as dry eye disease, Sjogren’s and graft versus host disease, providing conform and relief to alleviate pain by up to 70 per cent and to promote wound healing. More patients may benefit from treatment earlier, and therefore potentially more effectively, from first presentation. With OmniLenz application of Omnigen, NuVision aims to dramatically shorten the treatment pathway to improve patient care whilst delivering significant costs and resource saving to the already pressured NHS. Routine in clinic application of Omnigen may revolutionise the treatment approach for ocular surface disease. Omnigen is the currently the first UK dry human amnion derived product to have delivered encouraging proof of concept, and is now being used in over 60 UK hospitals, 14 different countries and delivering ~6000 sight saving treatments for patients. NuVision is currently working with hospitals to generate the necessary data to obtain widespread clinical acceptance, with several major clinical trials starting in coming months.
www.nu-vision.co.uk
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