Therapeutic antibodies administered
intravitreally are the current
standard of care to treat retinal diseases. The ocular half-life (t
1/2) is a key determinant of the duration of
target suppression. To support the development of novel, longer-acting
drugs, a reliable determination of t
1/2 is needed together with an improved understanding of the factors
that influence it. A model-based meta-analysis was conducted in humans
and nonclinical species (rat, rabbit, monkey, and pig) to determine
consensus values for the ocular t
1/2 of
IgG antibodies and Fab fragments. Results from multiple literature
and in-house pharmacokinetic studies are presented within a mechanistic
framework that assumes diffusion-controlled drug elimination from
the vitreous. Our analysis shows, both theoretically and experimentally,
that the ocular t
1/2 increases in direct
proportion to the product of the hydrodynamic radius of the macromolecule
(3.0 nm for Fab and 5.0 nm for IgG) and the square of the radius of
the vitreous globe, which varies approximately 24-fold from the rat
to the human. Interspecies differences in the proportionality factors
are observed and discussed in mechanistic terms. In addition, mathematical
formulae are presented that allow prediction of the ocular t
1/2 for molecules of interest. The utility of
these formulae is successfully demonstrated in case studies of aflibercept,
brolucizumab, and PEGylated Fabs, where the predicted ocular t
1/2 values are found to be in reasonable agreement
with the experimental data available for these molecules.