Funding opportunity
Scotland’s publicly funded innovation group, ITI Life Sciences, wants to commission a £5 million to £10 million R&D programme in intra-ocular delivery (IOD), focusing on developing innovative methods of delivering drugs and diagnostics into the eye.
A number of compounds for treating eye diseases have been launched recently, but they must be injected directly into the eye. Not only is this procedure unpleasant, but it is also associated with its own side-effects, such as elevated intra-ocular pressure, which can lead to other conditions. The injections must also be repeated regularly.
Current methods of diagnosing eye conditions use optical instrumentation to scan the back of the eye. A quick and convenient diagnostic biological agent that could detect pathological changes earlier would be a real breakthrough. ITI believes this is likely to involve using antibodies to target agents into the eye, raising the same delivery challenges as drugs.
Eleanor Mitchell, Managing Director of ITI Life Sciences, said the programme is a response to the significant interest in the application of new biologics-based therapeutics to eye diseases, and increasing evidence that certain diseases, including diabetes, can be detected at an early stage in the eye. “Unfortunately, the eye has natural barriers which make effective delivery of new therapeutics and diagnostics into the eye extremely challenging.”
ITI Life Sciences has conducted an analysis of the innovation barriers and emerging market trends in this area and believes there is a significant opportunity to develop new ophthalmic delivery technologies. It hopes to work with leaders in these areas to develop such technologies.
As a first step ITI plans to host a programme-scoping workshop involving a number of internationally recognised academic and commercial experts to explore areas of convergence and potential innovation in the IOD. To be considered for the workshop and future onward involvement in the R&D programme, companies, agencies, institutes, academia and individuals are invited to express their interest before 2 June.
There are geographical restrictions and ITI welcomes responses to this call from non-UK organisations.
Receive the Funding Newswire [full access requires a subscription] each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.
