ABVC BioPharma, Inc. announced two clinical sites in Thailand have been selected to participate in the Phase II clinical study of Vitargus, the first bio-degradable vitreous substitute intended to facilitate retina re-attachment surgery. The new sites, located at the Ramathibodi Hospital at Mahidol University and the Srinagarind Hospital at Khon Kaen University, will join two planned Australian sites already selected to participate in the study. The Company expects the Thailand Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration to approve the study sites and principal investigators in First Quarter of 2022 with first patient enrollments beginning during Second Quarter of 2022.

Early clinical studies indicate that Vitargus® has unique properties that eliminate the need for post-surgery patient face-down positioning and significantly improves recovery period patient comfort and visual acuity compared to existing products. The objective of the Phase II study, “A Prospective Multi-Site Randomized Controlled Clinical Investigation of the Safety and Effectiveness of the ABV-1701 Ocular Endotamponade (OE),” is to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of Vitargus as compared to SF6 Gas OE, now commonly used for retina re-attachment. The incident of retinal detachment in Thailand is about 3% by the age of 85, compared to the incident of retinal detachment in Australia, which affects about 1% of the population.