Drug Delivery Challenges and Novel Therapeutic Approaches for Retinal Diseases

Christopher L. Cioffi is an Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Basic and Clinical Sciences and the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Christopher received his doctorate in Organic Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2000. He subsequently conducted a 16-year career as a medicinal chemist at Albany Molecular Research, Inc. where he led numerous medicinal chemistry teams and made significant drug design contributions to programs that advanced drug candidates into pre-clinical development and clinical trials. His work has spanned several therapeutic areas that include cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, CNS, and ophthalmic indications. Notably, Christopher has contributed to the discovery of Eli Lilly’s cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitor evacetrapib, which progressed to Phase III clinical trials for dyslipidemia. Additionally, he has co-discovered the 5-HT3 partial agonist SMP-100 (SciMount Therapeutics) to be studied for efficacy against IBS-D and the retinol binding protein 4 antagonist tinlarebant (Belite Bio) for the treatment of Stargardt disease. Tinlarebant has completed Phase I clinical trials and Phase II trials with Stargardt disease patients are expected to commence in 2020. SMP-100 is currently undergoing Phase I clinical trials. Christopher joined Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2016 and is engaged drug discovery projects focused in the areas of atrophic age-related macular degeneration and chronic pain.

• An Overview of Retinal Diseases and Current Ocular Drug Discovery.- Ocular Pharmacokinetics and Drug Delivery Challenges.- Models of Pathologies Associated with Age-related Macular Degeneration and Their Utilities in Drug Discovery.- Recent Developments in Agents for the Treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Stargardt Disease.- Targets and Strategies toward the Development of Therapeutics for Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Macular Edema.- Recent Developments for the Treatment of Glaucoma.- Emerging Gene Therapy Treatments for Retinal Degenerative Diseases.