Optogenerapy - Optogenetic Protein Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis- aims to develop and demonstrate a new optogenetics implant for controlled beta interferon (IFN-ß) protein delivery for treating Multiple Sclerosis patients, in a 3 years project funded by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 Programme.
Optogenerapy represents an innovative and effective therapeutic delivery with an impact on slowing the disease progression and increasing the Multiple Sclerosis patients’ quality of life. The novelty lies in the continuous delivery of IFN-ß, overcoming current limitations of short drug half-life in vivo, adverse immune reactions, and pain and irritation at the site of local injection.
The main objective is to develop and validate a new bio-electronic cell based implant device to be implanted subcutaneously providing controlled drug release during at least 6 months. The cell confinement within a chamber sealed by a porous membrane allows the device to be easily implanted or removed. At the same time, this membrane acts to prevent immune rejection and offers long-term safety in drug release while overcoming the adverse effects of current cellular therapies.
Wireless powered optogenetics – light controlling the cellular response of genetically engineered cells – is used to control the production of IFN-ß.
It is a low-cost system enabling large scale manufacturing and reduction of time to market up to 30% compared to other cell therapies, combining:
• Polymeric biomaterials with strong optical, biocompatibility and barrier requirements, to build the cell chamber and to encapsulate the optoelectronics.
• Optoelectronics miniaturization, autonomy and optical performance.
• Optimal cellular engineering design, enhanced by computer modelling, for stability and performance of the synthetic optogenetic gene pathway over long-term implantation.
• Micro moulding enabling optoelectronics and membrane embedding for safety and minimal invasiveness.
Optogenerapy socio-economic impact:
Impact for the patients:
• Improved drug effectiveness: The novel solution for IFN-β continuous systemic release will improve quality of life of patients with Multiple Sclerosis due to improved drug effectiveness as eliminates the serum levels peaks, the flu-like effects after injection, and liver toxicity in the long term.
• Improved compliance with drug taking: The Optogenerapy solution will also improve patients’ treatment adherence as there is no need for daily to weekly self-injections. Patients would only need go to the doctor for follow-up, which helps preventing patients to stop their medications by therapy fatigue and delaying disease progression.
Impact for the Healthcare System:
• Reduce direct and indirect costs linked to Multiple Sclerosis: Optogenerapy therapy deployment will save the costs of non-adherence to the healthcare system and to the society, mainly related to labour market productivity losses.
Impact on Society
• Social awareness of efficient therapies improving patient compliance: Optogenerapy outputs will contribute to increase the social awareness about more efficient therapies with improved patient compliance thanks to the project’s highly innovative concept and the real interest and capability to persist during the exploitation strategies once the project ends.
• On the other hand, the project will help to generate awareness about Multiple Sclerosis and its prevention measures, treatment options and adherence benefits.
