Idun initiates Phase I study of caspase inhibitor
Company's first clinical trial
Idun Pharmaceuticals (La Jolla, CA) recently received regulatory approval to begin its first clinical trial—a Phase I study of IDN-6556 in patients with acute alcoholic hepatitis. The trial will investigate the safety of IDN-6556, a caspase inhibitor that blocks apoptosis, in up to 75 subjects over a 30-day period.
Acute alcoholic hepatitis affects approximately 80,000 people per year in the United States. The often-fatal condition results from massive liver failure in patients with already compromised liver function. Liver failure is caused by cell death by apoptosis. Caspase inhibitors block apoptosis by stopping the action of caspases, a family of proteins that are a key component of the apoptosis pathway.
"Acute alcoholic hepatitis was chosen as our first clinical indication because we believe the biology of this condition lends itself to our apoptosis inhibiting compound,'' said M. Jay Winship, Idun's VP of medical affairs. "In addition, this is a life threatening condition with no cure. If effective, we have the opportunity to have this designated as an orphan drug and Idun could potentially market this drug directly. Proving the safety of Idun's caspase inhibitor in this Phase I trial will pave the way for efficacy testing in humans in acute alcoholic hepatitis and in several other acute indications that could benefit from the same kind of intervention."
"Based on our success in animal models of several different diseases, we anticipate results from this trial will lead to additional clinical trials in a number of important indications beyond acute alcoholic hepatitis, such as acute treatments for heart attack and stroke," Steven J. Mento, Idun's president and CEO, added.
Idun Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that creates human therapeutics with a primary focus on controlling apoptosis, or programmed cell death.
For more information, contact Steven J. Mento, president and CEO of Idun Pharmaceuticals, at 858-623-1330.
Edited by Jim Pomager
Assistant Editor, Drug Discovery Online