Nanoscope Therapeutics Receives Fast Track Designation by the FDA for MCO-010 for the Treatment of Stargardt Disease

Nanoscope Therapeutics Receives Fast Track Designation by the FDA for MCO-010 for the Treatment of Stargardt Disease

DALLAS, Jan. 30, 2023 — Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing gene therapies for retinal degenerative diseases, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track Designation (FTD) to MCO-010, an ambient-light activatable Multi-Characteristic Opsin (MCO) optogenetic monotherapy to restore vision in blind patients, for the treatment of Stargardt disease to improve visual function.

“We are pleased to receive the FDA’s decision to grant Fast Track Designation for the second indication of our vision restoring therapy, and we look forward to sharing six-month data from the Phase 2 STARLIGHT clinical trial of MCO-010 therapy in Stargardt patients this quarter,” said Sulagna Bhattacharya, CEO of Nanoscope. “Receiving Fast Track Designation reinforces the urgency of our mission to find an effective solution for Stargardt patients and is an acknowledgement of MCO-010’s potential to address this unmet medical need.”

In September 2022, enrollment was completed in the Phase 2 open-label STARLIGHT clinical trial (NCT05417126) of MCO-010 in six patients with advanced vision loss due to a clinical or genetic diagnosis of Stargardt disease. In this study, all subjects received the same single intravitreal dose of 1.2E11gc/eye of MCO-010. Six-month data from the STARLIGHT trial are expected in Q1 2023.

The FDA’s Fast Track designation is intended to facilitate the development and expedite the review of novel therapies to treat serious conditions for which there is unmet medical need. With the Fast Track designation, Nanoscope Therapeutics is eligible for more frequent regulatory meetings and communications with the FDA.

In February 2022, enrollment was completed in the Phase 2b multicenter, randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled RESTORE clinical trial (NCT04945772) of MCO-010. Top line data from the RESTORE trial are also expected in Q1 2023.

About Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc.
Nanoscope Therapeutics is developing gene-agnostic, sight restoring optogenetic therapies for the millions of patients blinded by retinal degenerative diseases, for which no cure exists. The company’s lead asset, MCO-010, is presently in Phase 2b multicenter, randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled clinical trials in the U.S. for retinitis pigmentosa (NCT04945772) with top-line data expected Q1 2023. The company has also fully enrolled a Phase 2 trial of MCO-010 therapy in Stargardt patients (NCT05417126). MCO-010 has received FDA Fast Track designation and FDA orphan drug designations for both RP and Stargardt. Preclinical assets include non-viral laser delivered MCO-020 gene therapy for geographic atrophy.

Investor Contact:
Argot Partners
212-600-1902
[email protected]

SOURCE Nanoscope Therapeutics

Nanoscope Therapeutics, Inc.
Trinity Towers
2777 N. Stemmons Fwy.
Dallas, TX 75207
(817) 857-1186
  • Dr. Samarendra Mohanty, PhD |  Co-Founder & President

    Samarendra Mohanty (Co-Founder/President) is an inventor & serial entrepreneur with 20+ years experience in Biomedical Sciences. He is Co-Founder of several Biotechs and Biomedical device /diagnostic companies (developed & commercialized $100K+ biomedical instruments.)

    Dr. Mohanty obtained M.Tech in Applied Optics from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and a PhD in (Bio)Physics from the Indian Institute of Sciences-Bangalore.

    His extensive Biomedical Technologies experience includes serving as Professor/Senior Scientist at the University of Texas;  University of California, Irvine; Center for Adv. Tech (India); Int. Mol. Biotech (Germany); Univ. Pavia (Italy); NUS (Singapore); and University of St. Andrews (UK). He has authored over 200 international patents and publications in leading journals including Nature and Nature Photonics.

    He is the Principal Investigator for major grants from the National Eye Institute including Audacious Goal Initiative and Bioengineering Research grants. He serves on the editorial board of journals and chairs an international conference on optogenetics. He is the winner of a 2019 Healthcare Heroes award (Fort Worth Business Press), Retinal Organoid Challenge Award, Audacious Goal Initiative Award (NIH), Finalist of Tech Titan, and NIH-Director’s Innovator Award.