ZOC2017217

ZOC2017217 is an investigational topical eye drop in Phase 2 development for age-related-cataract. Its sponsor describes it as lanosterol-derived, but no independently confirmed structure, molecular formula, canonical database identifier, molecular target, or direct peer-reviewed result was found in searches through 2026-08-18. The best public evidence is therefore a set of trial registrations, not an efficacy dataset.

Identity and composition

Field	Publicly established value
Development code	ZOC2017217
U.S. trial sponsor	Ocusun Ophthalmic Pharmaceutical (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd.
Dosage form	Topical ophthalmic solution
PubChem CID	No exact-name match found
ChEMBL ID	Not independently confirmed
DrugBank ID	Not independently confirmed
Structure / formula / molecular weight	Not publicly established

An Ocusun-associated patent family covers multiple lanosterol prodrug structures and ophthalmic formulations, and its abstract states that the disclosed prodrugs have better permeability than lanosterol.¹ The patent does not contain the development code ZOC2017217, however, so this page does not map the code to a numbered patent compound or import a structure from that family. pubchem-cid, chembl-id, and drugbank-id remain null pending an independent identity source. gap/needs-canonical-id

Proposed rationale and evidence boundary

Age-related cataract involves loss of lens transparency associated in part with damage, misfolding, and aggregation of long-lived crystallins. That pathobiology motivates the [[loss-of-proteostasis]] link. It does not establish that ZOC2017217 engages a specific protein or reverses aggregation in humans.

The sponsor attributes antioxidant and anti-aggregation activity to ZOC2017217, but the cited public announcement supplies no compound structure, assay protocol, dose-response data, or primary preclinical report.² Accordingly, mechanisms: [] and targets: [] are intentional. The parent-lanosterol literature is mixed and cannot substitute for direct evidence on an undisclosed derivative:

• Zhao et al. 2015 found reduced protein aggregation in vitro and reduced cataract severity in preclinical animal experiments with lanosterol.³
• Shanmugam et al. 2015 reported that an ex-vivo experiment on 40 surgically extracted human age-related cataract nuclei, allocated 20 per arm with incompletely reported randomization, found no improvement in lens clarity after six days of nominal 25 mM lanosterol.⁴
• Daszynski et al. 2019 found no reversal of opacity, protein resolubilization, or supportive alpha-B-crystallin binding signal in rat-lens and human-lens-protein experiments with lanosterol.⁵
• Zhang et al. 2022 reported a transient clarity signal in three cortical-cataract animals that peaked at day 14 and regressed by day 21, but little change in three nuclear-cataract animals; the nine-monkey, nonrandomized model and different delivery system do not establish ZOC2017217 efficacy.⁶

Human development

United States: NCT07395986

The current ClinicalTrials.gov record describes a randomized, parallel, quadruple-masked, placebo-controlled Phase 2 pilot in the United States.⁷

Registry field	Current record (posted 2026-08-11)
Status	Active, not recruiting
Enrollment	8 actual; the narrative summary still says approximately 40 participants
Intervention	ZOC2017217 ophthalmic solution 0.4% versus matching placebo
Regimen	Assigned ophthalmic solution in both eyes twice daily for 24 weeks; the record allows omission of a nonstudy eye judged unsuitable
Start	2026-02-10 actual
Primary completion	2027-02 estimated
Study completion	2027-02 estimated
Results posted	No

The record has changed materially since the version posted 2026-06-15, when the status was enrolling by invitation and it listed 40 estimated participants, March 2027 estimated primary completion, and May 2027 estimated study completion. Those values describe an earlier plan, not the current enrollment module. The current record’s 8-participant actual enrollment also conflicts with its unchanged narrative phrase “approximately 40,” so the smaller structured value is reported with that discrepancy rather than silently reconciled.

The registered outcomes include best-corrected distance visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, VFQ-25 vision-related quality of life, and lens-opacity assessments through week 24. With no posted results and only 8 actual participants in the current record, this pilot cannot by itself provide a precise efficacy estimate or robust uncommon-adverse-event assessment.

China registry history

Current public mirrors of the Chinese Drug Trial Registry and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry exposed six ZOC2017217 records.^8910111213 Direct official detail pages were access-gated during verification, so the entries below are explicitly mirror-corroborated rather than treated as direct official-registry extractions.

Registry	Phase / population	Enrollment and status	Public result record
CTR20211644	Phase 1; healthy adults aged 18–45; single- and multiple-dose safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics	82 actual; completed	None located
CTR20213389	Phase Ib/IIa; adults aged at least 50 with early age-related cataract	60 actual; completed	None located
CTR20230060	Phase IIb; adults aged 50–75 with early or intermediate age-related cataract; randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled	200 planned across 12 sites; active, not recruiting	None located
ChiCTR2400083415	Nonrandomized cohort follow-up of participants who completed 12 weeks in study GOCS-H101-E02	40 planned; mirror still says not started and reports no actual enrollment	None located
CTR20242307	Phase 2; randomized, double-blind, active-controlled with pirenoxine eye drops	62 actual; completed	None located
CTR20251148	Phase 2; randomized and placebo-controlled; title says observer-masked while the mirror’s masking field says double-blind	204 planned; not yet recruiting	None located

CTR20230060 registers change in best-corrected distance visual acuity at week 12 as its primary outcome, with other visual-acuity, lens-opacity, contrast-sensitivity, VFQ-25, safety, and plasma-concentration assessments. Registry metadata establish that these studies were planned or conducted; they do not establish that the treatment worked. No results table, peer-reviewed result paper, or regulator assessment for any of the six records was found.

Sponsor-reported China claim

A July 2026 sponsor/CRO news release states that an unspecified exploratory China study had 50.0–86.4% of participants reach 20/40 vision or better 12–24 weeks after treatment.² The release does not identify the Chinese registry record, report group denominators or baseline acuity, specify whether the percentages refer to different doses or time points, give a placebo comparison, describe missing data, or provide a prespecified analysis and full result table. This is a sponsor claim, not a published efficacy result, and is not used to support benefit.

Evidence assessment

human-evidence-level: limited reflects documented human exposure and ongoing clinical development, not demonstrated clinical efficacy. The direct evidence base remains registry-only. Exact-identifier searches in PubMed and Europe PMC returned zero indexed records through 2026-08-18; this does not exclude unindexed reports or papers published under another name.¹⁴ A separate recency search for lanosterol/oxysterol cataract intervention evidence found no newer meta-analysis or large human randomized trial that supersedes this assessment. Related lanosterol experiments are mechanistically contested and concern other formulations or modalities.

The minimum evidence needed for translation is an adequately powered, independently interpretable randomized trial with transparent composition, prespecified visual-function and objective lens-opacity outcomes, clinically meaningful cataract-surgery follow-up, and complete safety and pharmacokinetic reporting. gap/no-mechanism gap/needs-human-replication gap/long-term-unknown gap/dose-response-unclear

Footnotes

Footnotes

1. Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University · Lanosterol prodrug compound and preparation method therefor and use thereof · US10738076B2 / WO2018137683A1 · priority 2017-01-25 · patent family, not a peer-reviewed efficacy report · https://patents.google.com/patent/US10738076B2/en ↩

2. Lexitas Pharma Services and Ocusun · Lexitas Pharma Services and Ocusun Enroll First Patient in a Pilot Study… · 2026-07-14 · sponsor/CRO news release; no linked protocol-level China result dataset or publication · https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lexitas-pharma-services-and-ocusun-enroll-first-patient-in-a-pilot-study-for-an-upcoming-phase-iii-clinical-trial-evaluating-investigational-eye-drop-for-age-related-cataract-302824020.html ↩ ↩²

3. Zhao L et al. · Lanosterol reverses protein aggregation in cataracts · preclinical in-vitro and animal study · doi:10.1038/nature14650 · PMID 26200341 ↩

4. Shanmugam PM et al. · Effect of lanosterol on human cataract nucleus · n=40 extracted human cataract nuclei, 20 per arm · authors asserted random selection but did not report sequence/concealment or the scope of observer masking · six-day exposure to nominal 25 mM lanosterol versus vehicle · no clarity improvement · doi:10.4103/0301-4738.176040 · PMID 26862091 · PMCID PMC4784074 ↩

5. Daszynski DM et al. · Failure of Oxysterols Such as Lanosterol to Restore Lens Clarity from Cataracts · in-vitro rat-lens, human-lens-protein, and in-silico binding experiments · no supportive anti-cataract or alpha-B-crystallin-binding result · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-44676-4 · PMID 31186457 · PMCID PMC6560215 ↩

6. Zhang K et al. · Inhibitory effect of lanosterol on cataractous lens of cynomolgus monkeys using a subconjunctival drug release system · n=9 cynomolgus monkeys (3 clear-lens controls, 3 cortical cataract, 3 nuclear cataract) · small nonrandomized in-vivo study · doi:10.1093/pcmedi/pbac021 · PMID 36196296 · PMCID PMC9523460 ↩

7. ClinicalTrials.gov · NCT07395986 · A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of ZOC2017217 in Subjects With Age-Related Cataract · Phase 2; structured masking field is quadruple-masked · current version posted 2026-08-11; no results posted · record and history accessed 2026-08-18 · https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07395986 ↩

8. Chinese Drug Trial Registry · CTR20211644 · Safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of ZOC2017217 eye drops in healthy subjects · Phase 1 · current public mirror metadata accessed 2026-08-18 · https://www.pharnexcloud.com/data/lcsy_5b8b7891a6ade1fb56fb1c7eb5135fe3.html ↩

9. Chinese Drug Trial Registry · CTR20213389 · ZOC2017217 eye drops in older participants with early age-related cataract · Phase Ib/IIa · current public mirror metadata accessed 2026-08-18 · https://www.pharnexcloud.com/data/lcsy_7ff37654c90e1fa08e35b9831b2114dd.html ↩

10. Chinese Drug Trial Registry · CTR20230060 · ZOC2017217 eye drops in early or intermediate age-related cataract · Phase IIb, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled · current public mirror metadata accessed 2026-08-18 · https://www.pharnexcloud.com/data/lcsy_8bd18ceb0b905468bbd5aee8d8c6a4d3.html ↩

11. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry · ChiCTR2400083415 · long-term efficacy and safety observational follow-up after GOCS-H101-E02 · public mirror metadata accessed 2026-08-18; the displayed status appears stale relative to its scheduled dates · https://www.pharnexcloud.com/data/lcsy_13fa28fa137029241ee17c0c0afe1268.html ↩

12. Chinese Drug Trial Registry · CTR20242307 · ZOC2017217 eye drops versus pirenoxine in age-related cataract · Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, active-controlled · current public mirror metadata accessed 2026-08-18 · https://www.pharnexcloud.com/data/lcsy_69b43ca60a866720bbb0735904ce4a44.html ↩

13. Chinese Drug Trial Registry · CTR20251148 · ZOC2017217 eye drops in age-related cataract · Phase 2, randomized, observer-masked, placebo-controlled · current public mirror metadata accessed 2026-08-18 · https://www.pharnexcloud.com/data/lcsy_5a5b7cc08423f6108451240e7048885b.html ↩

14. PubMed query: (ZOC2017217[All Fields] OR ZOC-2017217[All Fields] OR NCT07395986[All Fields] OR CTR20211644[All Fields] OR CTR20213389[All Fields] OR CTR20230060[All Fields] OR CTR20242307[All Fields] OR CTR20251148[All Fields] OR ChiCTR2400083415[All Fields]) AND ("1000"[Date - Publication] : "2026/08/18"[Date - Publication]); Europe PMC used the same identifiers with FIRST_PDATE:[1000-01-01 TO 2026-08-18]. Both returned zero records on 2026-08-18. ↩