Ocumension Therapeutics announced that OT-202 (tyrosine kinase inhibitor), a class I new drug self-developed by the Company for the treatment of dry eye, has completed the first patient enrollment for its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial on the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic properties for its single/multiple administration on healthy trial subjects in China. OT-202 (tyrosine kinase inhibitor) is the Company's first self-developed class I novel targeted new drug for the treatment of dry eye. The core mechanism of dry eye is mainly due to a variety of factors and diseases caused by the decrease in tear production or high evaporation, which leads to hypertonicity of tears.

This hypertonic state activates by a series of inflammations on the ocular surface and releases inflammatory mediators into the tears fluid, and thus the cycle continues. The key treatment for dry eye is to break the vicious circle of inflammation. Spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) is a cytoplasmic protein kinase, which plays a key role in a variety of biological functions, including classical immunoreceptor such as activating Fc receptors (FcR) and the intracellular signal cascade of B cells receptors (BCRs) that are particularly significant for the initiation of inflammation.

Syk inhibitors can be used for the treatment of various allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases and inflammatory diseases. Syk is the target of OT-202, which achieves anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting the activity of Syk kinase, which has shown significant therapeutic effects and anti-inflammatory effects in the guinea pigs' immune-type dry eye model and the mice's scopolamine dry eye model. The toxicology studies have also shown that it is well-tolerated in the body of animals.