Millions of people suffer from dry eye disease throughout the world of which most of them were women and elderly people.

Recently in an annual meeting of ARVO (Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) which had taken place in Hawaii, Sylentis – the pharma company belonging to PharmaMar Group and a pioneer in RNAi research, had presented the positive results from the clinical studies on tivanisiran therapy against dry eye syndrome. The successful positive results further led to the Phase III "Helix" clinical trial.

Tivanisiran has shown remarkable improvement in various ocular inflammatory parameters, tear quality and there occurred a reduction in ocular pain associated with dry eye disease.

Based on genetic silencing through RNA interference (RNAi), the mode of action of tivanisiran was targeted to treat the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease.

Ana Isabel Jiménez, Director of R&D at Sylentis said, "We trust in our technology, innovative in this field, and we hope that tivanisiran will soon become a real alternative for the treatment of millions of people that suffer dry eye disease around the world."

Jiménez further added, "This is a significant step forward in the development of innovative drugs in different therapeutic areas through a novel technology of genetic silencing based on the RNA."