APEPTICO Initiates Phase I Trial with AP301 in Pulmonary Oedema

13-Apr-2011 - Austria

APEPTICO, a privately-held biotechnology company developing peptide drugs, announced the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial with its lead product AP301 to assess the safety and tolerability of the orally inhaled peptide drug. AP301 is being developed for the treatment of oedematous respiratory failure in patients suffering from lung infection, lung injury and lung transplantation.

AP301 is the first compound against respiratory failure caused by pulmonary oedema that activates lung oedema reabsorption and thus differs from the currently used anti-inflammatory treatment that often fails in patients with acute lung injury. The synthetic peptide AP301 activates alveolar liquid clearance (ALC) and prevents both endothelial and epithelial lung tissue from hyper-permeability as a result of microbial and viral lung infections. AP301 also prevents ischaemia reperfusion injury following lung transplantation in the lower respiratory tract.

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose escalating study is enrolled in Austria. Up to 48 patients will receive a single dose of AP301 or matching placebo converted into an aerosol by state-of-the-art nebuliser technology.

"We are very pleased to expand the development of our lead molecule AP301 into clinical studies, particularly as we have faced widespread scepticism regarding the usefulness of peptide drugs in inhalation therapy," said Bernhard Fischer, CEO of APEPTICO. “Treatment of oedematous respiratory failure represents an unmet medical need as no specific therapy or medicinal product has been approved so far for the prevention and treatment of pulmonary oedema caused by hyper-permeability.”

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/131905/apeptico-initiates-phase-i-trial-with-ap301-in-pulmonary-oedema.html