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Dr. Brian Roberts is a Senior VP and Head of Clinical Development at Rezolute which is developing first in class therapies in the treatment of metabolic diseases. In addition to working on a therapeutic for congenital hyperinsulinism, a rare disease, Rezolute is also in clinical trials with RZ402, an oral small molecule to treat diabetic macular edema which is showing an increase in prevalence due to the increase in the number of people suffering from diabetes.

Brian explains, "DME or diabetic macular edema is a complication of diabetes. It's a subset of diabetic retinopathy. And like other complications of diabetes, the blood vessels in the eye become injured or corrupted. And this leads to inflammation in the leakage of fluid across the blood vessel into the eye. And in this case, into the macula of the retina, which is responsible for high-resolution vision. If that continues, it can result in progressive visual loss and even blindness."

"Another problem with these therapies is that in some patients, they simply don't work. So the disease is not driven by vascular endothelial growth factor or VEGF. And so there really is a need for therapies that address a different mechanism and that allow the earlier treatment of disease before the disease gets difficult to control. And that's where our oral therapeutic with a different mechanism of action comes into play."

"First and foremost, it represents a different mechanism, or a different way, to target the disease. RZ402 is a plasma kallikrein inhibitor. The kallikrein system is involved in the promotion of inflammation and vascular leakage. And it's part of normal physiology around the body to really promote the fight against infection or injury."

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