Clinuvel has developed the concept of medicinal photoprotection and has refined the technology over the last five years to optimise the photoprotective effect of SCENESSE® (afamelanotide). The company has formulated a 16mg controlled-release subcutaneous implant for the delivery of SCENESSE®.
Roughly the size of a grain of rice, the implant is injected underneath the skin. Skin pigmentation is activated immediately and the photoprotective effect lasts up to two months.
SCENESSE® has a relatively short half life (less than 50 minutes) and trials to date have raised no serious safety concerns; thus far the drug is well tolerated by patients. The implant drug product has been chosen for its ease of use in dermatology.
SCENESSE® is the first melanocortin to be developed into a pharmaceutical product. To date, Clinuvel has spent over A$80 million developing the SCENESSE® implant drug product as a therapeutic photoprotective drug for patients who are most at risk from UV and sun exposure and as a novel repigmentation therapy in vitiligo.
